Right Back At It Again
by AikenArrow
Summary: Eric, a former SAO player, plays ALO for the first time to discover something that drags him back to his time in SAO. Canon: as much as possible. First fan fiction! Reviews are welcome!
1. Chapter 1 - Right Back At It Again

"In. Out."  
Pulse rate decreasing.  
"Are you gonna shoot or what? It's just a dummy."  
My grip on the bow tightens involuntarily and I grit my teeth.  
"Dude, leave him alone; it's his first time in almost a year."  
_ In... Out..._  
"So what? I hadn't played a VRMMO in almost a year before I started ALO."  
_ In. Out._  
"He was a player in... you know what: never mind"  
_ In..._  
My pulse increases slightly as I inhale, but I ignore it, just as I ignore the beads of sweat accumulating on my brow.  
_ Out..._  
My fingers release the string holding back the arrow. Like a rocket, it speeds toward its target, hitting it straight in the head. For a moment everything is still and then the dummy explodes in a shower of glittering polygons.

* * *

"So... what do you think?"

I sighed and leaned back in the chair, reaching for my drink. For a second I wondered if the in game alcohol would affect my aim. Thinking back to the last VRMMO that I played and the amount of gold that I spent on alcohol, I shook my head and downed the glass. "It's... familiar... but different."

Jinx chuckled and flagged the NPC waitress. "I know; it took me a while to get used to flying... and logging off."

I shuddered, thinking back to when I first logged into ALfheim Online. I had spent almost an hour screaming and crying while Gerg and Jinx tried to calm me down and show me that this time I could log off. "Yeah," I muttered.

"You know," Jinx said, buying two more glasses of dwarf-man-ale or something. "I thought you would pick to be a Pooka. You know, cause you're so musical and artsy."

I shrugged and looked down at my black beginners clothes. "I dunno, I just picked it on whim. You're right; the bow and arrow physics are really good for this game."

Smiling, the Pooka slid the glass across the table to me. "I told you that this new patch was epic. You were such a great projectile user in SAO, I figured that bow and arrows would appeal to you. Honestly, I think this is good for you. Playing a game in which death doesn't mean the final end for you should be good for you."

I nodded in agreement and sipped the drink, feeling the virtually simulated slight burn of alcohol in my throat. It had been almost a year since Gerg, Jinx, and I were stuck in that death game, almost a year since I last killed someone. I had specialized in the "weapon throw" system that SAO had, continuously crafting better and better throwing weapons in addition to honing my skills in actual combat. Actual combat... like actual death...

Gritting my teeth, I shook my head to try and dislodge the words from my head. Jinx smiled understandably and shifted the sheath that was slung across his back.

"I still think that you should have taken that guy's offer to buy your avatar," he said, looking at me with questioning eyes. "They say that that specific avatar is the most rare avatar out there."

"I could use 150 bucks," I said, shrugging my shoulders, aware of the bow strung across my back. "But, I like it."

"I guess I can't judge; if I got an avatar whose hair covered these ears, I would keep it too," Jinx remarked, feeling the points of his ears and groaning. "Plus, I think the white hair suits you"

"However, it does stick out," he continued, glaring at two Imp girls who had been staring at me. With a indigent grunt, the two turned away from the show that I apparently was putting on.

"Yeah," I said, looking down. I couldn't bring myself to tell Jinx what was the real reason why I received this avatar. My thoughts drifted back in time to when I first logged into ALO this morning.

I stood in a black circular room with a series of light blue squares decorating the walls with a floating holo keyboard in front of me. After filling out my name and other information, the world around me grew brighter quickly, until everything around me was white, similar to transporting in SAO. However, this time everything stayed white and a male voice said, "Congratulations player. In honor of achieving the highest player kills in SAO, you are awarded an exclusive avatar."

The only reason I had this avatar was because I was a murderer


	2. Chapter 2 - Too Young, Too Old

Author's Note: I think I'm getting sick; I had a stuffy nose last night and I was coughing a bit this morning. So, to combat this personal plague, I decided to make a dangerous and thrilling trip to the nearby smoothie place to get the fabled citrus mango smoothie of legend. I don't know how it'll help, but it's got citrus in the name, so that means it'll have vitamin C or something, right? In regards to the story, something that should be worth mentioning is that I do use a lot of my material from things in real life that have actually happened to me; because, when it comes down to the basic elements, nothing is a better muse than real life. Anyways, to see this fan fiction in all of its glory on my blog, check out the link here: www. draclinkblogspot .com Unfortunately, it seems I can't put hyperlinks in my documents, so you'll have to type that out in your browser.

* * *

It all started in November of 2021, just a few days after I turned 15. I was driving my very first car with my little brother in the backseat back from an ice cream shop in New York and we were stuck at an intersection, waiting for the light to change. All of a sudden, I heard the screeching of tires spinning and then the world turned black.

When I lifted my head off of the steering wheel, the smell of chemicals, oil, and smoke filled my throat. Slowly turning back, I saw my little brother looking out of the now-busted in window. As if in slow motion, he turned to me, showing me the right side of his face. Blood was pouring out the side of his head, where flaps of skin were peeled back to show the torn muscle and slight hint of his skull. I remember screaming and hitting the broken driver's side door until my knuckles were raw and red before passing out into peaceful oblivion.

My brother survived that day, but my mind never seemed to. Panic attacks came at seemingly random and sleep was delicacy I would rarely taste. I was diagnosed with PTSD and directed to several therapists. After the accident, I grew more and more distant from my family; I always felt cut off from my parents and my brothers. I guess this feeling is what drove me to MMORPGs and why I began to become obsessed with them. They offered a world in which I could start over, become whoever I wanted to be. I soon became increasing good with them, to the point where I could participate in professional MMO's.

After accumulating enough money on the professional MMO, APB, I declared myself an emancipated minor and moved to Japan to be closer to the MMO industry. In a new world, away from anyone who knew about my past, I thought I would feel better and more at ease. However, due to my limited knowledge of Japanese and my name's similarity to the word, "nancy", I found that I had to deal with new problems. I would frequently get into fights both at and outside of school; almost everyday I seemed to acquire a new injury.

Eventually, I found some friends in some of the other foreign kids and developed a regular MMO group that I could depend on. I felt happier than I had ever felt in my entire life when my hands were at the keyboard and my mind was in another world. Eventually, two of my friends, Devon and Garrith, moved in with me at my house and we would run through MMORPGs faster than most players.

It's no surprise that when SAO went public, I rushed off to buy some NerveGears and three copies of the game. I begged Garrith and Devon to try the game with me after I got calls from Josh, Katie, and Matt from our usual MMO group telling me that they were going to be going online as soon as the countdown ended. Relenting after I told them that I had ordered some food that they could only eat if they played with me, they agreed to try it out and we all put our NerveGears on at the same time and started the game.

I immediately fell in love Aincrad; I spent the first hour perusing the markets of the beginning town before settling on buying a thin blade with my beginning amount of money. After that, I set off to find my friends among the thousands of other players in this new virtual world. We all agreed to use the names we usually used in other MMOs, so that it would be easier to find each other. After half an hour, we grouped up and set up a party together. Fighting together, we were about to reach level 2 when that fateful bell rang and we were transported the main plaza.

After the game master's horrifying revelation, I almost lost my mind; once again, I was stuck in a world that I couldn't escape. Desperately, I started to search for my friends among the crowds of other players that were now panicking. In a short while, we were able to get everyone back together and were about to hit the fields outside the town to farm the fields and level up so we start to search for the boss when I saw a familiar face in the crowd of other players. Crouched over and clutching his chest was my grandfather.

* * *

**January 26th, 2023**

After talking to the old man, I discovered that he was, in fact, not my grandfather; he was just an old janitor who had been trying out the NerveGear his granddaughter had given him and just so happened to look like my late grandfather. Against my better judgment, I decided to protect him and invited him to the party. From then on, Selwyn became a member of our group and eventually our guild.

From day one, I spent all of my time in combat and managing my guild, Darkness Falls, of which I was the leader. I was in the assault team that killed the first boss and I worked part time on the frontlines, which were at floor 24. At this time, I was proficient with throwing weapons and quite a few levels higher than the rest of my guild, including Selwyn. Gerg, Garrith's SAO in-game name, had set up a blacksmithing shop on floor 13 and I bought a headquarters for our guild on the same floor.

As most of the guild was out gathering resources for Gerg or farming on the higher levels with our two newest recruits, Jesse and Auser, I decided to take a trip with Selwyn outside of town.

_It's a beautiful day out_, I thought to myself as I looked at the slight dusting of snow that the outdoors had received overnight. The reason why we picked floor 13 to be the floor on which our base of operations would be located on was because it seemed to mimic the seasons in real time, making it feel that much more like real life. Just then, Selwyn shivered and pulled his fur coat closer around himself.

"I honestly don't understand how you're not cold, kid," he muttered, glancing at me. "You got some kind of heat crystal or something you're hiding from me?"

I chuckled, amused by my companion's never-failing bluntness. "No, I'm just used to this kind of weather old man. I'm from New York, remember?"

Selwyn grunted and nodded, fixing his gaze forwards. "I've gotten better at fighting," he remarked, a layer of excitement hidden under a nonchalant tone.

Resisting the urge to look at his level, I asked, "So you've gone up some levels?"

"Several," the elderly man confirmed, looking towards the white topped trees of the forest in the distance. "I was wondering: would you accompany me to the dungeon today?"

I mulled over the idea in my mind for a few moments before answering. "Sure," I said, smiling at my best friend. "You've been training a lot lately and I don't see why we won't be able to take it together."

Selwyn turned to me and smiled, showing perfectly white teeth, a lie compared to what he told me his teeth looked like in real life. "I'll beat you to the forest, kid," he said, starting off in a sprint toward the dungeon entrance.

"Not on your life, old man," I retorted, chasing after him at full speed. With the wind whipping through my hair, I thought about how impossible this situation would be in real life. For one, Selwyn had an arthritic back and could never come close to keeping up with me, a former cross country runner. _If Sword Art Online had been anything other than the death game it had become,_ I thought to myself, _it would have been a beautiful way for the disabled to move again._

Noticing that Selwyn had stopped, I slowed down and jogged over to him. "What's up, old man? Out of breath already?" I jokingly asked, patting him on the back.

"Not on your life, kid." He panted, throwing my own retort back at me. "It looks like the forest has stopped our little foot race."

Huge trees now dominated our vision and pine needles covered the ground, as if they had fallen off of the trees earlier in the year. Wondering for a few minutes why a Japanese game would include trees not native to the country in the game, I marked it down as creative diversity.

"Well, it's not gonna come any closer to us," my friend remarked, obviously eager to get a taste of his first dungeon.

"Yup," I said, nodding in agreement. "Let's get this thing started." Moving forward, I thought I saw some movement in the upper branches of the trees and some snow fall to the ground. Looking again closely, I couldn't find anything and shook my head. Probably just a NPC squirrel or something.

"What's taking you so long, kid?" Selwyn called out to me, quite a ways deeper into the dungeon than when I last saw him. "Scared?"

"As if!" I shouted back, adding some pseudo-90's teenage angst to my voice. I started to run deeper into the forest, happy to spend some time with one of my best friends.

In real life, I tended to avoid most people because I never felt like I belonged. No one I knew had ever experienced the kind of life experiences that I had or had to deal with something like PTSD that could take over your life. However, the elderly always seemed to hold a special part in my heart; their experience, their wisdom was something nobody could rival. They always seemed to know when to say the right thing at the right time to the right person. I guess the closer to death you get, the more valuable life becomes to you. It becomes something you treasure and nurture and not something you spend.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a load of cold, wet snow falling on my head. As I stood there with an annoyed expression, Selwyn started to laugh at me. His eyes drifted upwards to see what caused the snow the snow to fall and he stopped laughing.

Confused, I glanced upwards to see a group of about 5 enemy NPCs perched in the branches above, staring at us. I gritted my teeth and pulled out one of my throwing picks and launched it at the nearest one. As one, the group fell to the group and my pick soared over the head of the one I was aiming for.

The NPC in the front of the group, which was now shaped like a V, garbled something and the rest of the group started head towards Selwyn. I wondered briefly if I could pull up anything in the databank that was my memory about seeing these enemies before when I completed the dungeon with the assault team. However, try as I might, I could not seem to remember anything about humanoid enemies being found on this floor.

Selwyn deflected the first attack from the mob in front and managed to evade an attack from the second enemy. I took three of my throwing picks and launched them at the group of enemies that had now almost surrounded my best friend.

"Selwyn!" I shouted, taking a poison dipped dagger out of my belt and readying it. "Just block and evade; I'll take the aggro off of you!"

The old man nodded and rolled out of the way of an enemy's sword's reach. Just then I let go of my throwing dagger and watched it race towards the lead mob's back and sink into the cloaked figure. It let out a pained cry and shuddered for a few moments before continuing to attack Selwyn.

With wide eyes, I watched as one of the enemies landed a hit on my best friend and a red gash appeared on his shoulder. That dagger should have drawn at least three mobs towards me, if not four. Slowly, the realization came to me and I gasped in horror.

"Selwyn! They aren't NPCs!" I shouted, drawing my sword from my side and rushing to my best friend's aid. "They're players!" I flinched as another sword managed to find it's way to Selwyn's side.

He nodded to show that he understood and swung at the player who hit him and hit another in the face by accident. I kicked the outermost member of the crowd in the side of the stomach and knocked him to the ground. Switching my attention to another player, I heard the grunt of the other player as he started to get up. Slashing the guy across the chest, I pulled one of my daggers out and threw it at the guy who was trying to get up.

The weapon hit him in one of his eyes and I saw that he had received the Vision Impaired status. With grim satisfaction, I turned my attention back to the other player I had been fighting when I heard a familiar scream.

Selwyn was on his knees, shaking and looking at his shoulder as if he was hemorrhaging. An orange player was standing above him with his sword in both hands, laughing. I quickly pulled out a hatchet from my belt and threw it at the player. However, before my weapon found its target, the PKer plunged his blade into my best friend's back.

For a few seconds, the closest thing I had to my grandfather shimmered with a white glow before bursting into an array of shining shards, almost as if the fragile man I knew was made out of glass and the single thrust of a sword has shattered him. With a thud, my hatchet lodged itself into the face of Selwyn's killer and, he too, was wiped from existence.

I don't really remember much about what happened after that; really, that was the last memory I had before I woke up in the same forest with about four dead player's armor and items. I recall getting up off of the ground and going over to where a blue tinted sword was laying and picking it up. Looking at it's description, I could see that it was called "Ice-Stained Blade" and had previously belonged to a player called JirBlue.

In the coming months, that sword and I would continue systematically hunt down and kill every PKer we could find. No longer did I spend anytime on the front lines; instead, every second was spent patrolling outside of towns, waiting for my targets to walk outside of the town. I began to believe that this whole situation, this whole game was just a test. No one actually died and all I was doing was ridding the system of the faulty and destructive variables.

That was until I woke up that day in the hospital and realized the terrible truth. I had killed 287 people.


	3. Chapter 3 - He Was a Tender Hoodlum

**Author's Note:** Hey guys, I'm sorry this chapter took so long but I've been sick and loaded with school work. I've also been working with the Sword Art Online Fanon Wiki to get the characters some pages. So, if you would like some extra info and graphics for the characters in this story, don't hesitate to look them up on the wiki! As always, visit www. draclink. blogspot .com to see this fan fiction with illustrations!

* * *

"Jeez, what's taking them so long?"

Shaking my head as if to knock the memories out of my head, I looked over at Jinx. "What did you say?" Noticing a slight dip in my HP and an aching in my back, I shrugged off the beginner's standard-issue bow that had been digging into my shoulder blades and placed it on the table.

"I was complaining about Gerg and Vin being late," Jinx explained, pushing the weapon away from his side of the table with his index finger. "They were supposed to be here 10 minutes so we could all go and take on the event boss."

"Event boss?" I asked, surprised; the new patch came with an event quest in which the player was supposed to find and defeat this special projectile-using enemy, or something like that. "You found it?"

Jinx nodded and swiped his left finger in the air, opening his player menu. "Technically, Matt was- I mean- Mattias was the one who first saw it." He tapped a few buttons and a notification window appeared in front of me.

"Do you want to accept mapping data?" I read aloud, looking at him and raising my eyebrow. "Why would I want your mapping data? We start out with a fully explored map already."

"Not necessarily, buddy; special areas and specific town names don't appear on your map until you discover them physically," he corrected, checking something else on his menu. "In this case, I'm giving you my map data, complete with the location of the tagged boss."

"Oh ok," I said, tapping the yes option on the window and pulling up my map. "It's nearby; do you know if Auser and Mattias are close to here?"

"They aren't online, remember?" Jinx retorted, reaching over the table and ruffling my pale hair. "Ansonī has us all under his surveillance." He rolled his eyes as he said his eccentric roommate's name and pulled his arm back before I could smack it away.

"I completely forgot about that," I said, patting my hair back down. Ansonī abhorred any type of virtual reality technology after the Sword Art Online incident and was known for hiding his roommates' Amusphere's and, until recently, watching them like a hawk whenever they did go online. Rumor says that he had a cousin who had been a player of SAO and the experience turned him off from the entire industry. "Well, can you see where Gerg and Vin are?"

"I just did," he replied, pulling his halberd out of the sheath on his back and leaning it against the side of his chair. "They aren't online right now; you need to log off and see what the heck they're doing."

"Why me?" I grunted, pushing my chair away from the table so that it balanced on its hind legs and crossing my arms. "You're the one laying on _my_ couch right now."

"Because," Jinx said, reaching over and pushing my chair down, so that all of the chair's legs touched the wooden floorboards of the bar. "They're _your_ roommates. Plus, it's not my fault that I had to use your house because my roommate's a freaking Nazi."

"Also, I'm pretty sure that couch isn't yours," Jinx added, pulling a toothpick out of the dispenser on the table and putting it between his lips. "I saw Gerg carrying it into the house a couple weeks ago."

"Your roommate's not a Nazi," I disagreed, standing up and pulling up my player menu. "He just cares a lot about you guys and VRMMOs scare him. And that couch is mine- I just needed Garrith to help me carry it inside."

"Well, that makes sense," he replied, repositioning the pick on the other side of his mouth. "The guy's a freaking giant; I'm sure he could pick up Vin's truck if he wanted to."

I shook my head at the image of my friend picking up Devon's old truck and tapped the settings tab on my player menu. "I'll be back soon, okay?" I said, tapping the log out button and skimming over the warning notice.

Jinx sat up and pulled the toothpick out of his mouth. "Okay," he said, tapping a familiar rhythm on the wood. "I'll be waiting here."

I nodded and tapped the yes button on the warning window and closed my eyes.

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes and waited for them to adjust to the bright light that was filtering through the blinds. _I'm back in the real world and that's my own decision,_ I thought to myself, closing my eyes again. _The real world... where the sights are real, the sounds are real, the smells are..._

"Ew ew ew ew!" I screeched, sitting up so fast that I felt the blood rush from my head to the rest of the body and I felt a little woozy. I had gotten a huge whiff of a mildew smell that had wafted into my room from the hallway and the pungent scent now filled my throat.

"Dammit, Rafaeru, I told you to do your laundry!" I shouted, pinching my nose and gagging. Not hearing a reply, I set my jaw and reached my hands up to grab the NerveGear that was still on my head.

Pulling off the piece of VR technology, I smiled as my hair cascaded past my shoulders after being cramped in the helmet. I placed the first generation of FullDive technology on my bedside table and groaned when I heard the bottle of melatonin that I had put there roll off and hit the floor. I slowly stood up and flinched as the tips of a couple strands of my hair tickled the middle of my bare back; I had forgotten that I had taken off my shirt so that I wouldn't get overheated while playing ALO. Walking over to the mirror on top of my dresser on the other end of the room, I grabbed an over-sized t-shirt that was hanging over the end of my bed.

Looking at my disheveled hair in the mirror, I combed through the cyan-colored forest that my hair must of become while I was sleeping. Unlike most SAO players who found that their body had grown on without their input, I decided to keep my hair the length it had grown into and dyed it the bright color it is today. Part of this was simply the fact that I thought it worked out to look better this way. The other reason behind my decision was to prevent anyone from SAO from ever recognizing who I was. I smiled as I felt how soft my hair had become and made a mental note to keep using Devon's conditioner behind his back.

I started to check myself in the mirror, turning to see if I had regained any of the lost body fat from my time as a player of SAO. Even before the time of that death game, I had always been a skinny guy; because of that, it's taken me longer than most to regain my health. My stomach was flat and sunken in, whereas before it would have the slightest signs of abs. Looking at my stomach, my eyes drifted to the tattoo on my side. After we had managed to reunite in the real world, Katie had suggested that we all go and get tattoos of our guild symbol to match our avatars in SAO. At first, the idea might of seemed weird, but after everything we had all been through, it made sense to have something to show that we had survived that horrible death game.

I pulled the t-shirt over my head and started to walk back towards my desk before I stopped myself. Hung over my chair was Jinx's -Josh's- leather jacket, something that I rarely went anywhere without nowadays. Sliding my finger over it, I reminisced back to when he gave it to me.

When I woke up in the hospital that day and figured out the truth, I screamed. I screamed like I was being born again, into a world full of fire and brimstone. Tears poured down the side of my face as I just started to fully comprehend the magnitude of my actions. The true, appalling nature of everything that happened in the game was too much for me and I lost control. All of a sudden, I was my baby brother, crying out in pain uncontrollably as blood poured down my face.

A group of nurses had burst into my room and tried to calm me down but I just squirmed out of their reach, slowly losing my mind to the horror of myself. All of a sudden, a familiar face came into view and I felt my voice catch in my throat. Reaching his arms around me, Josh pulled me towards him with just a molecule of strength that he had left.

"It's gonna be okay," he had murmured into my ear, over and over again, as he rubbed my back. "It's not your fault." Josh rustled around a bit and I felt something rather heavy placed on my shoulders.

Sobbing, I felt my body being racked by each new wave of tears and I reached with both arms to feel the foreign object. My fingers touched leather and I knew that I was wearing Josh's trademark jacket. I had tried to pull it off and give it back to him, but he pushed my hand away and told me to keep it.

Since then, the jacket and I were inseparable; like a little kid's blanket, it didn't matter if I was wearing it or if it was just nearby, I had to have it with me. I shook my head and told myself that I didn't need it right now; I would just be going out of the room to go and check on Garrith and Devon.

My footsteps echoed slightly as I walked through the living room where Jinx was lounged out on the sofa, the red-tinted glass of his Amusphere casting a light magenta shade over his closed eyes. Grabbing a Sharpie off of the coffee table, I contemplated drawing on his face but decided against it and shoved it in my pocket. Turning away from my older brother-in-spirit, I headed into the hallway where the rest of the residents of this house's rooms were.

I checked in both of their rooms but neither of my former guild members were there; I started to get worried that they had somehow vanished when I heard Garrith's unmistakable chuckle from Rafaeru's room. Turning around the corner, I walked into a strange scene; Rafaeru was laying on his bed with an Amusphere on his head and my two other roommates were positioned around him, watching him.

Every former SAO player was required to live in a house with at least one non-SAO player, in case there were any unexpected side effects from being in that death game. These orders came straight from the Second Separated Advanced Network Division, Technology Bureau, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications,or the Virtual Division for short, and were not a problem for most SAO players, because they had family members or roommates that never played the VRMMO. However, for people like me, Jinx, and Jesse, who lived solely with other SAO players, it required us to get additional roommates who had not participated in the death game. For Josh and his two roommates, that meant having Ansonī Sato live in their house with them; for Katie and Jeshika, Jesse's real name, it meant having a third roommate, Han'na Vanji, stay with them. For me, it meant having Rafaeru Yamamoto live under my roof and leave his dirty clothes all over the place.

Despite his appearance, Rafaeru wasn't your everyday lazy roommate; the 18 year old was an agent from the Virtual Division, sent to watch and report about me. After SAO ended, I was put under heavy questioning due to my large number of player kills. Deciding that I was acting under self defense and defense of others, I was excused from having to do any jail time or go to court. As assurance that I wouldn't turn into some sort of violent killer, I was assigned a (supposedly) high profile official from the Virtual Division to keep tabs on me. This official turned out to be anything but official and one of the most irresponsible young adults that I have yet to meet.

"Hey, what's up Eric?" Garrith said, his deep voice booming, as he turned to see that I was standing in the doorway. He was leaning on Rafaeru's dresser, opposite from the end of his bed, and from the look of his tense, muscular frame, he was trying his best not to crush it. Before SAO, Garrith was one of the strongest people that I had ever known and he was devastated to see how his body had deteriorated after SAO. He quickly worked up a physical therapy schedule and soon had his body working like a well-oiled machine on all kinds of activities.

"Not much," I replied, watching how the sun coming through the window glinted off of his styled, short dark brown hair. "What's going on here?" I leaned against the doorway and crossed my arms.

"We were planning on messing with Raf whenever he logged off and maybe get some answers for why he's using an Amusphere," Garrith replied, chuckling. No doubt he was planning on scaring the living daylights whenever Rafaeru got done with what he was doing online.

"There's no we," Vin contradicted from his spot in the chair in the corner of Yamamoto's room. He ran his hand through his jet black hair, the pale skin of his hand creating a harsh highlight against a background of deep darkness, and smirked. "I have no desire to get on Mr. Sergeant Lieutenant's bad side."

My eyes outlined Vin's slender frame, lounged over the old desk chair, as I walked over to the side of Rafaeru's bed. As usual, he was dressed in all black, though the usual dark eyeliner was missing from his face today. In a way, me and Devon were alike in fashion sense; we both wore eyeliner and black nail polish, despite being guys. However, the similarities ended there; while I tended to wear clothes from the punk era of the 2000's, Devon was comfortable in almost any outfit, as long as it was black. "Well, we need you guys in ALO for the event boss."

Gerg sighed and shook his head, his dark grey eyes looking into mine. "I'm afraid I've gotta bail on that, boss. I wanna see Raf's face when he logs off and gets the shock of his life. Why don't you ask Kitty and Jesse for help?"

Before I could reply, Devon snorted and said "Yeah, I doubt that'll happen, with Kitty's attitude towards Jinx right now."

I sighed and pulled the Sharpie out of my pocket and twirling it in the air with my fingers. "What'd Jinx say this time that has her all wound up?"

Devon shrugged and pulled his knees up close to his face, so that his feet could fit on the seat of the chair. "I don't really know what he did this time- anyways, Jeshika and Katie are out on a shopping trip with Han'na or something." He rolled his eyes, indicating what his feelings were towards shopping and Han'na.

"Well, would you like to help us complete the event quest?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at my former second-in-command. Usually, I could rely on his help, especially in the virtual world; however, from his tone, he was focused on something else at the moment.

"Nah," Devon replied, confirming my suspicions. "I'd like to see how this turns out." He gestured with his head to indicate Garrith and Rafaeru and pulled his legs closer to himself.

I nodded and, leaning over my oblivious roommate, uncapped the permanent marker. "Well, I'm gonna give Mr. Sir Sergeant Lieutenant something to get back at him for stealing my group members for the day." I remarked, drawing a flowing moustache on Rafaeru. Devon smirked and Garrith laughed behind a covered hand.

"Well, I'm off to go back to ALO," I said, capping the marker and slipping it back into my pocket. I turned to my two friends and gave them a sincere smile. "Thank you for convincing me to try it, guys. I think this might be what I needed." And with that, I turned and walked outside of the room to participate in what could be one of the hardest fights in my life.


	4. Chapter 4 - A Long Shot

**Authors Note: **On Tuesdays at my college a couple of my friends have something called "Tunnel Tuesdays"; basically, a bunch of us get together in the tunnels and jam out. This Tuesday, I was the first one to get to the tunnels, so I sat down and started playing a few chords absentmindedly. Eventually, the rest of the gang showed up with an amp, jimbes (drums), and a guy with black hair brought another guitar. We started playing and more and more people started coming and someone brought a couple cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Before long I was surrounded by bodies and the sound of a trumpet, saxophone, pianica, banjo, and voices joined the sound of my instrument. The smell of smoke from cigarettes filled the dimly lit area and the flashes of dresses as girls danced carried a special type of rhythm. Some random girl gestured for me to join and I placed my guitar against the tunnel wall; before long, I was dancing too, my feet spinning to the music that echoed against the concrete walls. With my body spinning around with the others and the smell of smoke in my nostrils, I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time: I felt like I was right where I belonged. I guess that's where I got the emotion that Eric feels when he plays VRMMOs; from my own feeling of needing to belong to something. As always, visit www. draclink. blogspot .com to see this fan fiction with illustrations!

* * *

"Come on, get up," I muttered, shaking my sleeping friend's head.

"I'm up, I'm up," protested Jinx, waving his hands in front him and lifting his face off of the table. "What took you so long?" His widened eyes told me that he had only dozed off for a few seconds.

"I had to fight a huge dragon that breathed lightning," I sarcastically replied, picking up my bow and pulling it over my arm and head. Pulling up my player menu, I selected my quiver from my inventory and equipped it.

"Where are Gerg and Vin?" Jinx asked, slowly standing up and stretching.

"Back at the house. Raf's using an Amusphere and they want to figure out what he's doing." I pulled up my map to check where the event boss was; it was slowly moving towards Alne, the town where Jinx and I were at. _If the boss is supposed to attack the city, it would explain the event quest's title, Bulls-Eye Pillager,_ I thought to myself.

"That's lame," my party member remarked, his bright, golden eyes popping in and out of existence as he blinked. "What about that guy that Gerg and Vin said was with them when they were watching you try out your bow?"

I racked my mind to remember the Imp's name. "Um... Vlad? He's on Vin's friend list and besides, he seems kind of like a jerk." I shook my head, trying to forget his comments when I was aiming at that dummy.

"It's probably just because you're a Spriggan and a renegade," Jinx said, running his hand through his golden-brown hair. I stopped to think about how well the Pooka's golden color scheme looked on my friend's old SAO avatar.

"What does my race have to do with anything? You're a Pooka and we work together anyways," I stated, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. "And what does renegade mean?"

"Each race is like a huge guild," Jinx explained, picking up his halberd and putting it back in its sheath on his back. "And players who leave their race behind and go out on their own are called renegades. Honestly, with the New Aincrad, it just depends on what your preference is in regards to how you want to play the game. If you want to play the New Aincrad, you become a renegade and start off for the Town of Beginnings. If you want to play on ALfheim, you stick with your race and work with them and the commander of that race. Before the New Aincrad came in, though, it was supposed to be this big insult to be called a renegade."

I nodded, absorbing the information as if it was physics lesson. "Well, either way, it looks like we'll be the only ones taking this thing on for right now," I said, clasping my Pooka companion's shoulder tightly.

Jinx raked his hand through his hair and sighed. "We had all planned on taking this guy together so there would be a lower chance of you dying in battle. I don't think you're really ready for that experience yet."

"Yeah," I agreed, looking down at my feet. I had heard stories at school from other former SAO players about players who went a little crazy the first time they died in other VRMMOs. Apparently the experience was a little too real for comfort and sometimes players wouldn't be same for up to a week after dying for the first time. With my current state of mind, the doctors say that there's a good chance that my mind wouldn't survive the experience and I would go insane.

"Either way," I said, letting go of my friend's shoulder and walking towards the bar's door. "We should take this thing down before someone else gets to it." I pulled up my player menu and equipped the Dark Ranger Handguards that Gerg had crafted for me before grabbing the doorknob. I know twinking is looked down on in MMOs, but I didn't necessarily consider it twinking because I had transferred all of my skills and levels over from SAO, so I wasn't really a beginner player.

"Do you know where we can get mounts from?" I asked, opening the door for my former quartermaster to walk through. "The boss is close, but we'll get there quicker if we use horses."

"Did you forget?" Jinx chuckled, walking out into the orange tinted sunlight. The sun seemed to be eager to disappear behind the mountain range that surrounded the town and the sky was turning a bright shade of scarlet in response. "We don't need mounts in this game when we can fly."

"Oh yeah," I said, letting the door close behind me as I walked over to where Jinx was standing. "How do we do that again? Vin mentioned something about a controller that you imagine- or something like that." I shrugged, trying to remember how I had gotten to the central city of ALfheim from my temple-like capital city with my two roommates. However, it seemed that my memory was playing games with me, because it was already a blur in my head, yet another souvenir from the car accident three years ago.

Jinx shook his head and gestured for me to turn around. "That's the beginner's way of flying," he said, placing his hands on my back, avoiding touching my bow or quiver. "Even Jesse doesn't use that method anymore. Now I need you to imagine that you have arms extending from your back."

Hesitating, I closed my eyes and imagined two appendages extending from right underneath my shoulder blades, elbows bent towards each other. I heard a twinkling sound, sort of like what a revive spell from another MMO would sound like.

"That's good," Jinx said, moving his hands so only two fingers from each hand were touching me. "Now, try moving those virtual wing muscles."

Opening my eyes but keeping my mind focused on the image of having appendages on my back, I envisioned the arms bending back and forth at their elbows. Sure enough, I heard rustling from behind me as if two huge insect wings were batting at the wind.

"Wow, you're really quick at this," Jinx commented, taking his fingers off of my back. "Guess it's 'cause of your big imagination or something. Anyways, all that's left is for you to repeat 'I believe I can fly' over and over again."

I opened my mouth to start saying the mantra when I caught the faint sound of sarcasm in his voice. "Very funny, Jinx," I muttered, moving my wings in a circular motion, testing the limits of my new appendages. "Seriously though: how do I fly?"

I felt a gust of wind billow out from behind me and I turned around to see the Pooka hovering a couple of meters above his last location. "Find out for yourself!" He shouted jovially, making a teasing face at me. "See if you can get up here without my help."

I gritted my teeth and rolled my eyes; as much as I loved my spiritual big brother, he could be a pain when I needed help. Testing my wings, I imagined them beating faster and faster, until they became a blur. However, the only thing I managed to do was hover a couple centimeters above the ground before dropping back down.

I looked up at the sky and thought to myself, _I want to be there. _Focusing on that thought, I bent my legs and jumped up, shooting up into the sky. I steadied myself, using my wings to hover by beating the wind rapidly. Focusing on the thought of flying through the sky with my black wings, I shot forward through the crimson sky. Tilting my body, I swerved and dove back towards my airborne friend, coming to a stop about a meter away from him.

"Holy crap, you're a fast learner," He said, laughing and crossing his arms. He dipped slightly up and down as he hovered in the wind. "Anyways, let's get going: that boss isn't gonna wait around for us forever." He crouched as if he were about to tackle me and flew past me, his body parallel with the ground beneath us.

I copied his technique and spun around before catching up with him. "So who taught you to do that? Kitty?" I asked, assuming that the most avid lover of this fairy-themed VRMMO would be the first one to learn this special technique. I rolled in the air and stretched my arms out, smiling as I felt the wind in my face and hair.

"Nope," replied the Pooka with a smile on his face. "I was the first one to learn how to do it; this blond-haired Sylph girl with these gigantic boo-"

"Never mind," I interrupted, shaking my hands in front of my face. "I don't want to know about your sexual fantasies." I expected Jinx to laugh at me and continue his story with less emphasis on the appearance of the girl's chest but he was strangely quiet.

"Hey, what's up?" I said, speeding up so that my wings were level with his boots. It wasn't like Jinx to go silent for any extended period of time.

"I was just thinking," he said, looking back at me with a worried face. "What if this projectile-using boss is a human NPC? I don't think I'll be able to take it on by myself."

I nodded, understanding what he meant by having to fight the boss without me if it turned out to be a human NPC. After SAO ended, I couldn't stand to watch anything that showed violence or death for at least a month. In addition to that, since the death dame ended, I couldn't play any games with PVP action or the killing of human NPCs; often, attempts to do would end up with me freezing up and going into a panic attack. Even Super Street Fighter 9 (which didn't even show human death, only KOs), one of my favorite neo-retro games, was enough to make me drop the controller and run to the bathroom to empty my stomach. That being said, if the boss turned out to be a type of human enemy, I would be completely unable to fight it.

"We'll just have to hope it isn't," I said, looking up at my best friend. "Now, how far are we from the boss?"

Looking at his map, Jinx said, "Very close, we should land on that hill over there." He pointed to a grassy bump in the verdant landscape underneath us. "Do you know how to land?"

"No, but I think I can figure it out," I replied, shaking my head. I saw a glimpse of something blue peek over the hill and disappear again before I could make out what it was. The sun had disappeared behind the mountain range, its red aura fading out into a deep purple the only indication to its whereabouts.

"Okay," Jinx said, coming to a stop and shifting his body so that he was hovering in an upright position. "I'll see you on the ground then." With that, he descended towards the hill and landed gracefully on his feet.

Mimicking the Pooka, I gradually decreased the speed at which my wings were beating and felt myself begin to fall as if I was a feather. When the ground was about a meter away, I stopped moving my wings and the ground rushed up towards me. I landed on my feet, stumbling forwards to keep myself from falling flat on my face. I came to a stop and steadied myself by throwing my hands outwards as if I was on a balance beam.

"That's pretty good for your first time," Jinx remarked, walking towards edge of the top of the hill. He suddenly stopped as if he hit an invisible wall and gestured for me get closer.

I quietly trudged over to where he was standing and followed his gaze. What I saw almost took my breath away: a hulking mass of muscle the size of a mansion was positioned on the plain below and the feeling of static electricity in the air was making my hair stand on end. The beast was covered in azure scales, except on its belly and neck, which were covered in thick, long grey fur. Electricity coursed through its broad shoulders outlined in yellow ridges down to its long, sharp claws that poked out of its gauntlet-like encompassed hands. The beast roared, showing a mouth full of sharp fangs underneath two huge horns that adorned its head. The dragon's eyes were barely visible in comparison to the magnitude of the rest of its appendages; in particular, the heavily armored tail of the monster carried an atmosphere of being particularly deadly.

"Is this the 'lightning dragon' you were telling me you killed earlier?" Jinx whispered to me, his voice carrying an incredulous tone. He crouched close to the ground and started to shuffle closer towards the event boss. I looked over the monster's head and read its name: Lunastra Fatalis.

"The other one didn't need an army to defeat it," I muttered, crouching down low and following him. A flash of red to the left of the beast's hind legs drew my attention and I tapped Jinx's shoulder for him to stop.

"Do you see that?" I asked, pointing at the scarlet figure which had now gained the attention of the gigantic monster. Jinx looked over to where I was pointing and nodded; at this point, it was impossible to miss the lone attacker.

Clothed in maroon samurai-like armor, the Salamander swordswoman dove in-between the dragon's tense, muscular hind legs and slashed at its underside. Howling, the monster stood up on its hindquarters for an instant and energy quickly built up in its each of its clawed grips, forming two orbs of electricity. Flinging its projectiles, the wyvern's front legs hit the ground, shaking the earth with the impact. The player rolled away from one of the lightning balls and jumped back as another hit near her, deflecting the majority of it with the buckle that covered her other arm. Recovering quickly, she dove back under the boss, slashing up at its furry chest.

"Do you know who she is?" I asked Jinx as the swordswoman dodged two more of the beast's lightning fast projectiles and resumed attacking its underside.

"I think she's an advisor to the commander of the Salamanders," Jinx answered, his eyes focused on the battle below. "Then again, I might be wrong." The event boss started to generate and throw energy orbs with increasing speed, even though its HP hadn't dipped past 90 percent.

I opened my mouth to ask if we should help her when the beast stopped its barrage of lightning balls and suddenly tensed up. The Salamander elite started to raise her arm to defend against the coming attack but she was too late; digging into the ground with its claws and pushing off with its powerful hindquarters, the dragon spun around and slammed its paddle-shaped tail into the player. I watched as she flew through the air, her HP rapidly racing towards 0. When her health bar was completely empty, red flames engulfed her body and she shrunk to a small flame that was barely visible from my vantage point.

* * *

The air was quiet for a moment as her flame winked out of existence and the boss continued its slow journey towards Alne. "So what's the game plan?" Jinx said, breaking the unnerving silence. He pushed himself off of the grass where he had gone into a prone position and dusted himself off.

"I'm willing to bet that projectiles do more damage to it," I said, spilling the thoughts that I had been mulling over in my mind. "If you think about it, this whole quest supposedly revolves around the new ranged weapon system in ALO, so it makes sense for them to incorporate them as means to defeating it." I shrugged my bow off and gripped its handle tightly, readying myself for the battle ahead of me.

"Its main attacks are ranged, though," Jinx said, nodding as he realized what the administrators in charge of ALO were thinking. "In order for you to be able to take any good shots at this thing without get creamed, I'm gonna need to tank." He reached over his shoulder and pulled his favorite weapon out of its sheath.

"It sounds like a plan," I said, patting my friend's back as I started down the hill. I felt the slight breeze that he generated when he ran by before I set off behind him, notching an arrow on my bow. The dragon soon loomed over us, covering the glowing moon with its massive body; the event boss didn't seem to be an aggressive enemy because it wasn't attacking us, even though we were clearly in its detection zone.

_ I bet it turns into an aggressive NPC when it reaches town_, I thought to myself, lifting my bow up and pulling back on my arrow. My thoughts were interrupted by Jinx slashing at the boss's front leg and I let my arrow fly. It deflected off of the beast's hairy chest and I gritted my teeth before taking another arrow out of my quiver and notching it.

"Come on ugly!," Jinx called out to the beast, swirling and spinning out of the way of the dangerous thunder balls that were exploding around him. I let off a volley of arrows, almost all of which were deflected by the monster's seemingly impregnable scaly armor. I bit my thumbnail as I took a break from firing at the electrically charged beast.

_ I don't get it_, I thought to myself, pulling my finger back and drawing another arrow from my quiver. _If anything, my arrows should be hurting it_. Frustrated, I pulled back until a window came up telling me that the durability of my bow had dropped by one. Quickly letting go, I launched my arrow at the dragon's thick chest mane. To my surprise, the arrow stuck in the hide of Lunatra Fatalis, and the HP of the monster dropped by two percent.

"You found its weak spot!" Jinx shouted, swinging at the creature's leg, effectively lowering its health by one percent, before jumping back to avoid the two energy balls that were raining down. He shifted his stance and held his halberd with his left hand.

"Keep firing at its arms while I finish it off!" Jinx cried, charging towards where my arrow stuck out of the boss's chest like some sort of strange antennae. Coming within a meter's distance from the beast, he stopped running abruptly, which caused his feet to slide, and shifted his body so that his right side was facing Lunastra. While he was doing this, his left hand slid down to the end of his weapon and spun the halberd backwards. When the shaft hit the back of his neck, he grabbed the part of the pole that was right underneath the blade with his other hand. As his body started to come to a complete stop, he leaned towards his right as if the weight of the halberd was pulling him forward and plunged his weapon into the monster's chest.

BOOM! Feeling the concussion in my boots, I looked up from the arrow that I was notching to see Jinx hurtling through the air towards me. Quickly moving out of the way, I shot my arrow at the event boss and glanced back at my party member.

Jinx was slowly getting up, the force of his own attack against such an unshakable foe rattling him. He leaned against his halberd and looked up at me. His eyes quickly widened and I saw a bright light reflected in them.

I jumped back and hit the ground on my knees, using one hand to steady myself and the other to hold my bow. The ground exploded where I was just a few seconds before as a lightning orb hit it. I noticed a bead of sweat on my cheek and moved my hand to wipe it away.

"Get up there!" Jinx shouted, pointing to a cliff to the left of Lunastra, which was charging up two more thunder balls to throw. "You'll be out of the way of its attacks and have a better view."

I nodded, racing towards the side of the knob, which sloped downwards at an even gradient. The sky was now a dark blue, with the moon peaking around the corner of Yggdrasil, the World Tree. Hearing the sound of the boss's energy-filled projectiles hitting the ground cease, I stopped and turned around to look.

The monster was facing Jinx, its hindquarters tense as it prepared to wipe my friend out. I opened my mouth to warn him, but I was too slow; Lunastra quickly spun around and slammed its tail into the Pooka. Instead of being thrown through the air, Jinx skidded across the field, his halberd in an upright defensive position at his side.

A warning window letting me know that my party member's weapon's durability had been cut in half came up. I ducked my head low and sprinted the rest of the way to the top of the rocky outcropping. Coming to the edge of the cliff, I notched an arrow and shot at the back of the boss's neck mane. However, the beast quickly stood up on its hind legs and my projectile bounced off of the ridges that circled its shoulder.

Electricity started to course through its arms with more intensity and I watched Jinx move farther back in anticipation of a new attack pattern. The monster slammed its hands down and the impact forced the lightning from its claws into the ground, creating a shockwave. Seeing the surge of energy racing towards him, Jinx tried to jump over it, but ended up getting hit with the electrifying force, knocking him on his back.

I reached back to my quiver to grab an arrow and attempt to distract the boss long enough to let Jinx recover only to have my fingers grasp air. Twisting my body so that I could look at the device on my back, I gasped as I saw that I only had one arrow left. _Damn it,_ I thought grabbing the lone projectile angrily. _So this MMO uses an ammo system. I thought my arrows just regenerated after a while._

Looking up to aim at the monster, I saw a bright blue sparkle in the eye of the beast just before it hit Jinx with an orb of energy. _Wait, that's it!_ I thought, smiling as I figured out the point behind this event quest. _Its eyes are its weak spot!_

My revelation was cut short as the dragon turned its massive head to look at my vantage point. Lunastra opened its mouth and a bright white light flashed out and hit me. I felt wind billow against my back and then I slammed into something hard. My ears ringing, I opened my eyes to see that my HP was now in the yellow zone. Glancing over at Jinx's small figure which was struggling to stand, I saw that my party member's health was only a few points from zero.

I slowly lifted my bow up in my right hand and a warning came up, telling me that I was out of efficient range of my enemy. I stood up and saw that a large boulder had stopped me from falling back any farther than I had. Glancing over at Lunastra's HP, my eyes narrowed as I saw that the monster still had about 65 percent left of its health.

"Go!" Jinx's faint cry came from his crumpled up form on the plain below. "Run away before I die and it won't chase you!" The dragon leaned back on its hindquarters as it prepared to finish off my companion with a thunder ball.

"NO!" I bellowed, explosive fury building up in me. I notched my last arrow and pulled back as hard as I could and started running towards the edge of the cliff. My weapon's durability appeared in a flashing red window to the right of my view; it was rapidly decreasing, like a reversal of the milliseconds on a stop watch. The monster turned its head to look at me, not stopping the charging of the energy in its hands.

"I won't let a single one of my party members die!" I cried, jumping off of the cliff and letting the arrow fly just before my beginning weapon's durability hit zero and blew into an array of light. I ducked in midair and the searing heat of sapphire flames from the beast's mouth filled the space above me. I unfurled my wings, barely noticing the twinkling sound this time, and hovered in the air to watch my arrow plunge into the monster's eye.

For a moment, Lunastra froze as if stunned and I worried that my attack hadn't finished it off. Then, it bulged outwards as if bloated from its own explosive power and burst into millions of shining polygons. A notification window with the words, "Congratulations" appeared overhead and I slowly drifted down to the ground below.

I landed on the ground below to see a long, metallic bow materialize on the ground at my feet. Tapping its item information, I read that its name was "Frozen Compound Bow" and that it was a S rarity level ranged weapon. Smiling, I felt my heart swell with joy over my victory and my newly acquired bow.

"Jinx," I said, grasping my new weapon with renewed energy. "I think I'm ready to-"

"I know you," A deep, familiar voice behind me said, interrupting my jovial spirit. "You know, you're a wonderful archer... I wonder where someone like you could get so good with your aim."

I started to turn around to get a better look at the player behind the voice but I stopped when I felt something sharp poke my back.

"Oh yes," the dark figure said, pushing the blade harder against my back. "You're definitely the real deal."

Swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat, I resisted the urge to wipe away the bead of sweat that was running down the side of my face. The figure behind me shuffled around and I could imagine him smiling at my discomfort.

"You're Aiken Arrows," he whispered into my ear, his face just out of my sight. "And I'm going to kill you."

After a few seconds, I heard some rustling of robes and then the unmistakable sound of someone logging off. It didn't matter that I didn't see who my stalker was; their voice alone was enough to tell me who they were.

The player who had sworn to kill me was PoH, leader of the killing guild, Laughing Coffin.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the elongated chapter; I was debating whether or not to split it into two separate chapters. As always, I'm looking for reviews, so be sure to let me know what you guys think below! Anyways, I'm hard at work on the next chapter and will have it out sooner or later!


	5. Chapter 5 - Nice to Meet You Korea

"Erica-san!"

I raised my eyelids from their drooped position and looked at my teacher. _Did he just call me Erica?_ "Yes, teacher?" I replied, resisting the urge to yawn.

"Since you've decided to make this class your nap time, perhaps you would like to answer a question for me," my instructor said, putting his hand on his hip and pointing to the learning screen that replaced the SMART Boards of the 2010's. "What is a system that provides computer-based support for complex, nonroutine decisions, primarily for middle managers and knowledge workers?"

Blinking, I yawned despite my attempts to prevent it. "Um... a business intelligence system?" I said, glad that I had dozed off in Information Technology class, one of my best subjects and coincidentally, the last class of the day.

"That's... correct," the middle-aged teacher said, pushing his glasses father up on his nose. "However, in the future, I would like you to stay awake for my class, Erica-san."

I opened my mouth to correct him, but I decided to let it go. _At least he didn't call me by my last name,_ I thought to myself, looking at the digital clock on the learning screen. Being called Erica was one thing, but being called McNancy was just asking for someone to make fun of you. The bell sounded and the teacher flipped off the large, low light-emitting screen at the front of the classroom.

"Don't forget to do assignments 3.12 and 3.13! Your discussion responses are due by midnight tonight," my teacher reminded us, his voice rising slightly to be heard above the sound of students muttering to each other. I smiled as I got up from my seat; I had already completed all of chapter three's assignments and had written my discussion response this morning.

I felt my ponytail move as if something had flicked it and turned around to see Garrith's smiling face. "Oh hey," I said, patting the side of his arm. "I'm a bit slow today."

"It's probably because you were up so late last night online," my friend said, the combination of his scruffy face with his school uniform making him seem older than he was. He patted my head and I instinctively raised my hands up to see if any strands of hair had been pulled out of the tight hair band that held my hair in its ponytail. According to school policy, any hair longer than shoulder length had to be tied back into a ponytail and usually most students obeyed the rules. However, Yuuki Asuna, the former second in command of the Knights of the Blood Oath, seemed to get special treatment from the school's higher-ups; either that, or she only put her hair in a ponytail when she was in class.

"Yeah, that's probably it," I replied, fully aware that ALO hadn't been what had kept me up all night long. PoH's words were still echoing in my head and I doubt I would be able to get any productive sleep soon. Thinking back to yesterday's events, I suddenly remembered something. "Did you guys ever figure out what Rafaeru was doing on that Amusphere?"

"Mhm," Garrith said, picking up my backpack and handing it over to me. "He said he was playing this MMO, Gun Gale Online, on orders from the VD. To be honest, though, I think he was just making an excuse to play a VRMMO and find a way to pay his rent." He shook his head as he relayed the information over to me; I guess his attempted pranking of the Virtual Division's agent hadn't turned out like he had planned on it.

"I don't understand why he doesn't just use his salary from the VD," I muttered, marking this as his third month without paying me to live at my house. "Anyways, I'll meet up with you and the others at the water fountain after I get the rest of my stuff."

I waved bye to my friend and turned around to run into something solid. I feel backwards into my chair and rubbed my throbbing head. _Christ, what the hell?_ I thought to myself, looking up to see what had caused the pain.

"I-I'm Korea!" a student with short, spiky black hair said, holding out his hand to let me back up. I accepted his offer and almost fell off of my feet when he pulled me up quickly with ease. _He's pretty strong,_ I thought to myself. _And his chest must be made of freaking steel._

"Um... nice to meet you Korea," I said, tucking a strand of hair that had made it out of my hair band behind my ear. "You must be pretty strong to be able to pull me up so quickly."

"Dang, I messed up again," the boy said, covering his eyes with his eyes and sighing. "My name is Nico Chung. I'm a transfer student, like you, from South Korea. I'm really not that strong: you're just super light." His cheeks were a light shade of pink and I wondered why he was acting so strange.

_He must not be very good around people; that could be the reason why he had ever played SAO in the first place,_ I thought to myself. "Well, you already know my name from the teacher scolding me," I said, clasping my other hand around his and shaking it. "Would you like to walk with me before I meet up with my friends?"

"Um... T-that would be g-great!" Nico said, his cheeks flaring up again. I noticed him looking at my painted nails and I rolled my eyes and waited for him to ask me why they were black. "Y-your nails look nice!"

"Wait, you really think so?" I asked, stunned. Usually people had a problem with guys who used eyeliner and painted their nails; after all, the 1990's and 2000's were where "goths" and "punks" belonged, not 2025. "That's really nice of you to say. I worked on this while studying for British Literature, so I wasn't really paying too much attention to what I was doing."

"Hehe, well, they turned out nice," Nico chuckled, walking with me outside of the classroom. "You know, I don't know that many sonyeo who carry backpacks; they usually have satchels."

"Well... I carry a lot of my textbooks with me, even though we don't use them in class," I said, not really wanting to explain why I was carrying my best friend's coat in my backpack. _I guess sonyeo is the Korean word for students, _I thought to myself. Switching from Japanese to Korean and back is sort of common for people from the divided nation. "I guess that's kind of weird, huh?"

"Nah, I think it's cool!" he said with a wide grin. "We sho-"

"Hey, give me a break!" one of my classmates protested as a girl with long, light chestnut brown hair reminded him to get started on his discussion question. _How does Asuna know about our classes assignments?_ I wondered, watching as the girl playfully punched Kazuto in the shoulder_. I guess knowing Kirito - I mean, Kazuto - she would have asked the teacher to update her on his assignments to keep him from forgetting to do it._

"I wonder why he isn't more popular?" I said, glancing back over to Nico and smiling. "Kirigaya Kazuto, that is."

"You mean Kirito? I don't see why he should be," Nico muttered, glancing over to see our classmate dramatically holding his arm. His tone carried a sense of toxicity towards him and I shook my head to check if I had heard him correctly. _He must just be jealous of him having Asuna "Lightning Flash" as a girlfriend; plenty of the other former SAO players are at least._

"If it weren't for him, we would still be stuck in that death game," I explained, shifting my backpack's straps on my shoulder. "Plus, Jeshika, one of my friends, was one of the 300 players that he woke up, so I have him to thank for that."

Nico reached his arm out and put it around my shoulder; I resisted the instinctive urge to push him away and kept walking alongside of him. _What's he doing?_ I thought to myself, noticing how our footsteps matched each other. _Maybe he's just really friendly? _"So, what's your opinion of Kazuto kun?" Nico asked, his face a mask of emotion.

"Well... I think he's pretty okay for a beater," I said, trying not to explain too much about how exactly I knew Kirito. The truth was, I used to hate the raven-haired boy who forgot to do his homework. That was before he unknowingly saved a PVP guild from me.

* * *

**February 24, 2024**

I settled into the long grass and watched the bridge intensely. _This is where Mattias said that the orange guild would be planning to ambush a player, _I thought to myself. _They must be hiding right now, because I can't see them._

My target today was a small-time guild called Titan's Hand and they were the prime suspects in the murder of another guild, The Silver Flags. However, the term, "suspect" wasn't exactly what I would call a member of the guild; the leader of The Silver Flags, the only remaining survivor of the ambush, had convinced me without a doubt that his accusations against this killer guild were true. His tear-stained face that looked up at me while he begged me to help on his knees was too close the face I had seen staring back at me in the mirror the day Selwyn was killed.

However, before I could tell the man that I would take care of his problem, someone had called out to the guild's leader that he would help him. Looking over to see who had claimed the man's case, I saw that it was the Beater who got the leader of the first boss raid killed. Assuming that the member of the assault team had just wanted to shut the man up like the rest of the arrogant jerks who were on the frontlines, I had walked away determined to hunt down the orange guild.

I had been near the frontlines to see if I could find any traces of PKing in the guild, the Knights of the Blood Oath, which I had suspected had supported the killing of lower level players in an incident a few weeks earlier. However, my suspicions had been proven false, as I couldn't find any fault in the guild, other than being elitist and snooty; when I ran into the leader of The Silver Flags, I was surprised to find that my travel to the frontlines hadn't been in vain.

In the end, if it weren't for Mattias, I wouldn't have even been able to find a single member of Titan's Hand. Through methods I don't understand, he had been able to pinpoint the next planned attack by the orange guild and had given me the coordinates of the location. Before Mattias had joined the guild, he had been an info-broker, even though he hadn't participated in the beta-test. He was notorious for having information about bosses and quests before anyone else did and charging a lot for his intel.

Despite being a member of our regular MMO group, Mattias had refused to join the guild for almost three months after SAO started. I guess part of that was because of his newfound freedom he had found right before the death game started and in the game itself. Because of his high IQ, Mattias' parents had always been extremely strict and insistent that he kept academics on the foremost part of his mind. The day that Sword Art Online opened for the public, he got into a huge argument with his parents and ran away to hang out at Jinx's house. In celebration of his independence, he and Jinx decided to play SAO that night; however, when he found out that he was stuck in the world of Aincrad, Mattias said that he was finally free of his parents and left the group.

It wasn't until I was taking the guild on a dungeon raid and Mattias saw us in action that he decided to join the guild. Just like in the other MMOs we had played together, he was an incredible ally in battle, able to instantly recognize attack patterns and weaknesses. He was also the one who first saw Auser in action and suggested that we recruit him to the guild.

I noticed movement over at the bridge and glanced over to see who was there. Two players were slowly walking back from the Hill of Memories and one was taller than the other. Assessing the shorter player, I could see that she was a little girl, about 12 years old from the looks of it. Walking next to her was a familiar figure dressed in a black coat, the hilt of his sword peeking over his shoulder.

"What the hell is he doing with a little girl on Floor 47?" I muttered to myself, sinking lower into the long strands of grass. _So he's a sicko and a beater,_ I thought to myself as I came to the obvious conclusion. _I'll kill him too, once he shows that he's with the orange guild; after all, why else would he be bringing her through the area that the guild is supposed to ambush?_

"Whoever's out there, come out!"

I instinctively crouched down lower in the grass and gripped my sword. _How is he able to see me?_ I wondered, as beads of sweat accumulated on my brow. _I haven't leveled my hiding skill but I should be out of his range. _

A high-pitched voice cried, "Rosalia?" and I lifted my head up to see what was going on. A slender girl with dyed red hair now stood on the other side of the bridge, opposite from Kirito and the young player. She carried a cross-shaped spear and wore black, tight-fitting leather armor with scarlet belts and buckles. Tuffs of gray fur poked out of the various separate pieces of armor, as if the inside was coated with it.

"If you saw through my hiding skill so easily, your detection skill must be really high, swordsman," Rosalia stated, moving forward slightly. _She must be the orange guild's leader,_ I thought to myself. _I wonder why the beater wanted her to come out from hiding instead of just letting the guild do the ambush from their hiding spot._

"Oooh, it looks like you were successful in getting your hands on the Pneuma Flower," the guild leader said, talking to the little girl. _Why would she need a Pneuma Flower... unless..._ I wondered, trying to piece together what was going on in front of me. _She must be one of those rare beast tamers. _"Congratulations: now hand it over before you get hurt."

"What are you talking about?" the beast tamer asked, her voice quivering slightly. I started to pull my sword out of its sheath and crouched, ready to attack when the beater revealed that he was working with Titan's Hand.

"No one's handing anything over, Rosalia." Kirito said and I scrunched up my eyebrows in confusion. "Not to you or the orange guild. Or should I say, Titan's Hand? You're their leader, right?"

I let go of Ice-Stained Blade and lowered myself back into my hiding spot; I would have to do a little more waiting anyways if I wanted to be able to kill all of the members of the guild without missing any because they were hiding. "But Rosalie's cursor is green," I heard the little girl said, her hair ribbons moving in the air as she took a step forward.

"It's an easy trick," Kirito explained, staring at the leader of Titan's Hand. "The green members find their victims; then they lure them straight to the orange players for the ambush" I gritted my teeth as I heard him describe the common PKing technique; I've had to kill my fair share of green players because of the use of that technique. For some reason, even though I know that they are just as guilty of killing players as orange players, green players were harder to exterminate without hesitation.

"That was one of your pals last night, eavesdropping on us, wasn't it?" the beater asked, giving a faint smile. I started to wonder why he was questioning her if he already knew the answer.

"Then the reason why you were in that party with me and the others was to..." the young tamer said, trailing off as she came to the horrifying conclusion.

"How perceptive," Rosalia said, leaning on her pike. "I was observing their strength and watching them earn all that beautiful money." Although I couldn't see her face, I could tell that her expression had frightened the younger player. _All of these assholes are the same,_ I thought to myself clenching my fists. _All they care about is causing pain._

"You were who I was excited about and I was so sad when you left the party. But then I heard you were getting a rare item," the girl continued, twirling a strand of her red hair with her finger. "What I want to know is if you knew about us, why'd you bring her here? Are you dumb or does she have you wrapped around her finger?" The last part was directed towards the beater and he smiled in response to her accusations.

"Nope, you're wrong both times. See, I've been looking all over for you, Rosalia." Kirito said with a smirk. _What the hell is he talking about?_ I thought, moving slightly closer to the scene in curiosity. _Did he actually take up that guy's case?_

"What are you talking about?" Rosalia said, mirroring my own unspoken questions.

"Remember ten days ago? You attacked a guild, The Silver Flags?" the player said in a questioning tone. "The leader survived; four didn't."

"Oh, the losers with no money," the orange guild leader confirmed, shifting her weight to her other foot. I started to stand up, shaking in anger at the arrogant girl, before I stopped myself and settled back into the flower spotted hill.

"Their leader went back and forth, from the warp point to the front lines, morning to night. With tears in his eyes, he begged everyone he met to avenge his friends. But he didn't want you killed," Kirito said, painting the picture that I remembered so well. "No: he wanted you to go to prison. Do you have any idea how he felt?" The player ended the last sentence with such an angry tone that it mirrored my own rage against the orange guild.

"Can't say I do," replied Rosalia nonchalantly. "Only idiots take this seriously; so what if we kill someone here? There's no proof that they're dead IRL. Anyways, it's time you started worrying about yourself." With that, she snapped her fingers and the rest of her guild appeared, coming out of their hiding spots behind the trees that lined the path. In total, I counted eight different players, including Rosalia. _The same as my guild,_ I thought to myself. _Only difference is that I'm the orange player and they're the green players._

"Kirito, there's too many of them," the young tamer said, tugging on the beater's coat. "We should get out of here."

"No, it's okay," Kirito reassured her, patting her on the head. The gesture seemed to be more of a brotherly action than a romantic one and I started to think twice about my assumption. "You'll be safe if you stay here. Keep the crystal handy till I say so."

"Okay, but... Kirito!" the girl cried as the beater started to move towards the group of PKers. I relaxed, knowing that they didn't stand a chance against the assault team member. Soon enough, all of these players would be dead and I could go back to town and search for more murderers.

"Kirito? Dressed in black, one-handed, no shield... Holy crap, it's the Black Swordsman!" The words came from one of the guild members and I smiled despite the situation. My own nickname, Player's Bane, was enough to strike fear in criminals everywhere.

"Rosalia, that guy; he's the beater who plays solo on the front lines! He's with the assault team!" one of the guild members to the right of Titan's Hand's leader said.

"Why would a member of the assault team be all the way down here?" Rosalia replied, shifting her weapon in her hand and pointing it at the lone swordsman. "Go on: take him out and take everything he owns!"

The guild charged the dark figure and bright red lines appeared on him as blade after blade slashed into him. However, Kirito just stood still, letting the players attack him fruitlessly; his gaze seemed to be directed only at the leader of the orange guild. _What the hell is he doing?_ I thought to myself. _Just kill them already and quit messing around._

The guild members finally stopped attacking, realizing that there wasn't any use in fighting the higher level player. "What the hell, you idiots!" Rosalia cried, her voice strained and frustrated. "Kill him already!"

"410 per second, give or take. That's about the total damage the seven of you can inflict on me," Kirito stated, looking around at the orange guild. "I'm level 78; my HP is 14500 and my battle healing skill auto regenerates 600 points every ten seconds. We can stand here all day and you wouldn't get anywhere."

"T-that's not possible," a Titan's Hand member said, shaking. I smirked at the ignorance of the player and waited for the beater to finish him off in a couple hits.

"You wanna bet?" Kirito snapped, jerking his head to look at the member who spoke. "If your numbers are high enough, you're invincible. MMOs that use leveling systems are unfair that way."

"My client spent his entire fortune on this warp crystal and he's going to get his money's worth," he continued, holding up a light blue prism with a silver bottom. "It's been set to the coordinates of the prison and I'm sending all of you bastards there."

_Wait, he's not going to kill them?_ I thought, crouching in anticipation. _He's probably too chicken to finish these guys off._

"Well, I'm green and if you hurt me, you'll go orange and-" Rosalia started, holding her spear with both hands and pointing it at the dark figure.

"I'm a solo player, got it?" Kirito said, appearing in front of the guild leader in a gust of wind with his sword against her throat. "I don't care if I have to play as orange for a couple days."

Shocked, I almost fell backwards, but I managed to catch myself. _He doesn't care about being orange, but he still didn't kill them?_ I thought to myself. Throughout all of my player hunts, I never thought of the option of sending them to the prison; in my mind, I was the executioner, the final thing they would see in their vision before I sent them to hell.

That day, Kirito helped shed the rock-hard shell of hatred that I had built around myself without ever even knowing it. I had killed so many people in the year that followed Selwyn's death that I had forgotten how special life was and that revenge wasn't necessarily the right choice. After that day, I tried to use nonviolent measures to detain player killers whenever I could. However, it seemed that players were more willing to die than go to prison for the rest of the game and perhaps their time in real life. I ended up killing more people than imprisoning them, but I never forgot that I had a choice after that day.

* * *

"I said no!"

Looking over to see where the voice had come from, I saw Jeshika pushing away a student that had her arm in his hand. I gritted my teeth and pulled myself away from Nico's arm, prepared to go to my friend's aid. I stopped when I saw Devon quietly walking towards the situation and relaxed my jaw.

"Why? What, do you have a boyfriend or something?" the boy said, letting go of his grip on her arm, which she pulled back quickly.

"Actually, I do," Jeshika replied, lifting her chin slightly as she spoke. Her long, black hair was tied up in a ponytail as usual and her skinny body was shaking slightly with anger. Jeshika had been one of the players we recruited in SAO and she was also the only beta-tester and unique skill-user that I knew personally. When the game ended, Katie took care of her house while she was still stuck in the virtual world. When she woke up, she asked if Katie would be her roommate, to which she agreed.

"Oh really? And who would that be?" the guy said, crossing his arms and smirking. Looking at how arrogant he seemed, I figured that he had no idea just how much sass that Jeshika was capable of.

"That would be me," Devon said, coming up behind the native-Japanese school girl as silently as if he were made. He smiled faintly and placed his hands on her shoulders; Jeshika looked back with a nod and turned to glare at the offending person.

"Oh and what are you gonna do, girlie boy?" the boy said, sneering at the taller student. I narrowed my eyes, imagining that lasers were coming from my pupils. "You gonna hurt me for messing with your girlfriend?"

"No," Devon replied and for a second I saw the master dueler, Vin, that he was in SAO. "I'm gonna laugh while I watch her beat the shit out of you." He gently maneuvered himself around his in-game wife and leaned towards the student menacingly.

"And then I'm gonna break each and every one of your fingers for touching her," he promised, smiling with such warmth that from afar you would of thought that they had been best pals. He then leaned back and slowly started to walk backwards from the boy as Jeshika started to crack her knuckles.

"N-no that's f-fine," the student stammered, quickly moving away from the couple with sable hair. Jeshika took a step towards the boy and he ran away, almost tripping over himself in his hurry to get away from her.

I chuckled and I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around, I saw that it was Nico; he had a sort of sly smile on and was looking past me, at the plaza. "Well, it looks like your friends are here," he said, a faint blush still visible on his cheeks. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sure, I'll see you to-" I said, my words becoming muffled when Nico suddenly gave me a hug. _He's strangely friendly for just meeting me,_ I thought to myself, before wrapping my arms around his body as well. He soon broke away and started to walk away, almost abruptly and awkwardly.

"So who was that?" Katie said, appearing at my shoulder almost as if out of nowhere. I turned around and got tackled with a hug from my old guild designer. Katie has short, caramel-brown hair that tickled my nose right now and she had to stand on her toes to reach my height. Katie was one of the first people I met from Japan; she had been a part of my MMO group when I was back in America. Although originally from Virginia, she was brought to Japan when she was really young; she was a really good artist and she was the one that designed Darkness Falls' emblem.

"A new friend, apparently," I answered, pulling myself away from her to look at the rest of my friends. I reached up to fix my hair but decided that it was too much trouble and pulled my hair out of its ponytail. I put the hair band on my wrist, wearing it as a bracelet, and shook my hair out.

"You know what I would of done in your situation, Devon?" Andorū said, kicking his feet at the air as he sat on the edge of the fountain in the middle of the courtyard. "I would of kicked -"

"His butt," Josh said, finishing his roommate's sentence. "I'm pretty sure we all could of guessed what your temper would have caused you to do." He sat down next to the kid and patted his back; the difference between the coffee brown of Jinx's long bangs and the sharp black of Andorū's hair contrasted with each other slightly. Andorū , Auser's name in real life, was the only native of Japan, other than Jeshika, that was a part of our little group.

"Did you ever figure out what that lady wanted with you?" Andorū asked, glancing over at him. I noticed that there was a scrape underneath his chin and figured that he had gotten into another fight.

"Wait, what lady?" I asked, walking closer to him and coming to a stop near Garrith. Katie followed me and Matt came over and sat on the fountain's edge, a little way down from his other two roommates.

"There was this lady that wanted to buy the house," Josh explained, running his hands through his hair. "Apparently it's historically important or something."

I nodded, thinking about the weird circumstances that Josh came into possession of the deed to the house. Originally born in Chicago, Josh ended up in an orphanage in Japan when he was only 12 months old. Other than where he was from, the officials didn't have any information about his background. He was eventually adopted by a negligent couple, who forbade him from going outside much. When he was 16, he received the deed to his house in the mail and he took it as a sign to move out of his adopted parent's home. Mysteriously, all of the mortgage on the building had been paid off a long time ago and it came with an overseas account full of cash. To this day, Josh still hasn't told me exactly how much money was in that overseas account.

"Hey, I read in MMO daily this morning that the event quest for ALO was cleared," Matt remarked, showing his smart phone to everyone. "You wouldn't have had anything to do with that, would you?" He directed the last bit towards me and smiled, his short, black hair moving slightly and his glasses shifting up along his nose. Matt was born in California to Japan-native parents and was brought to back to their homeland for better education. After he woke up in the hospital after the death game ended, he checked the visitor list to see if his parents ever came by. When he saw that they hadn't, he cut off all communication with them and went to live with Josh.

"Yeah," I said, nodding; even in the real world, Matt seemed to always be the first one to find out about anything. "Josh and I killed the event boss last night."

"Heilige Scheiße!" Garrith exclaimed, looking at the article on Matt's smart phone. I smiled despite not knowing what he had said; Garrith was originally from Germany but he rarely spoke in his native tongue. "It says that the recommended number of players for a group for that quest was eight!"

"Really?" I said, glancing over at the small screen. Sure enough, the recommended number in a group for the quest was eight. "Anyways, I wanted to let all of you guys know that I'm officially coming back into VRMMOs."

"And," I added, shifting my backpack and smiling. "I want to meet up with all of you in ALO when you guys get home. Let's get this guild started again."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Did this chapter sort of quickly after I finished Chapter 4. Reminder, I am in desperate need of reviews so please don't be afraid to leave your two cents below! Thanks to Undeadmonkey8 for all of your reviews and your questions!


	6. Chapter 6 - I'm Your Leader, Right?

Author's Note: I am in desperate need of reviews so I would be very thankful for them. Also, a beta reader would be awesome if I could get one. As always, visit www. draclink. blogspot .com to see this fan fiction with illustrations!

* * *

I opened my eyes and smiled as I felt a slight breeze against my face.

I was back in the plain where I had killed the event boss, Lunastra Fatalis, and it was absolutely beautiful in the daylight. I thought briefly on the fact that the daytime and nighttime cycles were the same as the cycles in the real world; in SAO, it had made sense because there was no way to log out, but there was no reason why ALO couldn't follow the rules of most other MMOs and have an accelerated time cycle.

_Well, it does make it easier to be able to tell what time it's going to be when you log in,_ I thought to myself, stretching out my hands and yawning. Briefly, I thought back to last night and turned around to check if PoH was behind me. The spot where his avatar had stayed after he logged out was empty and I breathed a sigh of relief.

After PoH had finished his threat, his avatar had stayed behind; it was of a Sylph girl with light green hair and a short sword. In practicality, it had been a good idea for him to use an avatar of the opposite gender; if it had been a male avatar, the system would of taken some of his real life features to create the randomly generated character. However, by choosing the female option, he had forced the system to generate a character using a bunch of generic faces, making it impossible to make any accurate assumptions on what his appearance in real life was.

_Still, it seems perverse to pretend to be something that you aren't, even in a MMO,_ I mused, plopping down on the grass. Clicking the tips of my boots together, I gazed up at the virtual clouds that were slowly passing by above. I closed my eyes and sighed; even if it was just a bunch of ones and zeros in a made-up world, moments like this still made me feel good.

I felt a shadow from above me and I opened my eyes quickly, remembering that I wasn't entirely safe in the field. Landing quietly, a familiar Imp with a long black leather coat walked over to me. Succeeding in a not-so-quiet landing himself, Gerg arrived behind Vin and waved.

"What's up Aiken? Sleeping in a spawn zone?" the Leprechaun said, shifting the massive blade on his back. When I first arrived in ALfheim, I was surprised to see that Gerg was still just as big as he was in real life, even though he chose to be a Leprechaun. He explained that he and Vin had decided to import their avatars from Sword Art Online.

"Yeah, I'm gutsy like that; how are you doing, red head?" I replied, smiling; I had been surprised to learn that, in ALfheim Online, Leprechauns were not the little gold-hoarding, green suit-wearing fiends that we knew in America. In fact, shown by my friend's charcoal hair, the Leprechaun's color scheme was gray.

"I don't get why you keep saying that," Gerg said, rubbing the back of his head. "My hair isn't red." He offered me a hand and pulled me up off of the ground; bracing myself, I was prepared for the sudden rush of my friend's strength.

"It's an American thing," Vin said, crossing his arms and glanced at the weapon on my back with interest. "What's that?"

"Oh this?" I said, pulling the contraption off of my back. "It's my new bow that I got from the event boss." I proceeded to push the one side of the folded weapon to feel it snap into its functional form.

"Oh my gosh that is so cool!" Gerg exclaimed, leaning close over my bow and examining it. "It must work with some sort of internal mechanism. And this material: I've never seen it before!"

"Hey, calm down there, gear head," I said, pulling my arm back before Gerg ripped it off. "You know, I never got a chance to ask you about that chunk of metal on your back." I gestured to the hilt that was poking out from behind my friend's heavily armored body.

"You're talking about my baby?" Gerg asked, unsheathing the huge sword and holding it horizontally with his other hand on the flat side of the blade. "This here is the best greatsword to have ever been made, the Ancient Warblade."

"It's definitely ... big," I said, amazed at how the Leprechaun was managing to hold it steady. The blade itself was as long as I was high and its width was almost two hand lengths across. "Bigger than your greatsword from SAO, at least."

"It's the highest level greatsword that can be made," Gerg said, pulling the blade up and letting it rest on the thick plates of his shoulder armor. I wondered briefly if it would affect the durability of his armor; after a few moments, I figured that it wouldn't do any damage if he didn't let it hit the armor and just placed it there, like he had. "And you're looking at its creator." He jabbed a finger at himself and gave me a big grin.

"Did you make that too?" I said, pointing to the sword at Vin's side. It was in a black sheath and a chain dangled from the end of the handle. Vin shook his head before Gerg could answer and I waited for him to explain the origin behind his new sword.

"I got this from the Lord of the Imps, Alrik," Vin said, pulling the blade out of its dark resting place and holding it out so I could see. It was a dark gunmetal gray katana and it didn't seem to have a hilt; the handle was wrapped in a black leather and gave it the overall appearance of belonging in a Japanese armory. "It's the official sword of his honor guard."

"So he just gave it to you? Even though you're not part of his honor guard?" I asked, looking at my former second in command with a raised eyebrow. His dark violet hair moved slightly in the breeze and I wondered briefly if his eyebrows were the same plum color.

"He gave it to me after I beat him in a duel," Vin replied with a slight smile. My roommate seemed to be more alive in the world in ALfheim than in the real world; getting even a small chuckle out of him would have taken a miracle there, but in here he seemed normal, almost as if he was a different person.

_In a way, I guess everyone changes slightly when they go online,_ I thought to myself, looking over the length of the deadly blade. _Even I feel more assertive and powerful in the virtual world than in the real world._ "Well, it makes sense that it would be a duel, seeing how you were the be-"

"WAAAAAGGGHHHHH"

I looked up to see a mass of golden-colored ... something hurtling down from above. _Wait - is that Jinx?_ I thought to myself as the falling form became easier and easier to see.

"Watch out - I've got him!" Gerg yelled, pushing me out of the way. With a thud, the disheveled Pooka landed in his outstretched arms. I got up off of the ground and dusted myself off before walking back at where I had been before the Leprechaun had knocked me away.

"Oh hey, thanks Gerg," Jinx said in a dazed voice and patted his heavily armored arm. "You can let me down now."

Rather unceremoniously, the larger player dropped the Pooka to the ground in a heap. "Well, that hurt," Jinx said, rubbing the back of his head. I offered him my hand and helped him up, noticing how I didn't even have to strain myself in this virtual world.

"That's what you get for logging yourself out while flying," I said chuckling at my best friend while he tried to fix his appearance. Part of the back of his leather chestguard was flipped upwards and he was trying to push it down but it kept coming back up.

"It's smarter than just logging out in an open field; what if your avatar had been killed?" he retorted, finally managing to keep the part of his armor from coming up again. "Anyways, what are you guys up to?"

"Talking about weapons and waiting for the others to show up," Gerg said, checking to see if his gauntlets and arm pieces had been damaged by Jinx's fall. Apparently satisfied with his inspection, he shook out his arms and crossed them.

"In fact," I said, noticing something I hadn't bothered to before. "Isn't that your halberd from SAO? Did you find a lookalike? Or did you transfer it over somehow?"

"Yes. No. And sort of," Jinx replied, stretching his right arm across his chest and then switching to the other one. "For some weird reason, like a glitch or something, Orenmir transferred over to ALO without corrupting." He pulled the pole arm out of its sheath on his back and showed it to me.

Sure enough, the two weapons were the same; in SAO, Orenmir had been Jinx's main weapon since the day he got it as a quest reward. The quest, A Fool's Journey, had been an extremely hard quest that required a lot of players. Jinx and about 50 others had attempted to complete the quest together and succeeded. According to the quest information, the leader of the group who completed the quest would receive the rare item at the end; to prevent squabbling over who got the reward, the massive group agreed to not have a leader. However, for some weird reason, Jinx had been the one who had gotten the rare pole arm as a reward for completing the quest.

"Yeah, that's pretty weird," I agreed, pondering on how exactly something like that could happen. According to what I had been told about the MMO, ALfheim was based off of the same system that Sword Art Online had been based off but the save data for the items and quests were completely different.

"Hey, that girl isn't here anymore," Jinx said, pointing to the spot where PoH's avatar had been. After Jinx had healed himself, he had walked over to where I was still standing in shock from hearing the Laughing Coffin's voice. When he had asked me whose avatar the Sylph's was, I had just shrugged and told him that I didn't know.

"Vin!" a recognizable voice squealed and I turned to see my best friend get tackled from mid air. Hugging the Imp was a familiar looking girl with black leather armor and a sword clipped to her belt. Seeing her purple hair, I could tell that she was also an Imp player; judging from the way she was hugging my second-in-command and the fact that she also used a katana, I could guess who she was.

"Jesse, is that you?" I asked, taking a step closer to the player. When she turned to look at me, my suspicions were confirmed.

"Wait, do I know you?" she asked, picking herself up off of the grass. "I don't think I know any players with white hair." Vin pushed himself off of the ground and smiled at his in-game wife's ignorance.

"It's Aiken," I said, realizing that I was still holding my bow. Wrapping my finger around the outside of the handle, I pulled back and collapsed the bow with ease. "I didn't import my avatar from SAO. I almost didn't recognize you with the new hair color."

"You look so much different," Jesse said, intertwining her fingers with Vin's. "I guess I kindof expected you to pick to be an Undine. Because of your hair, that is."

"I thought about it but I felt it would be cheesy," I explained, placing the folded weapon on my back and feeling it latch into place. "Besides, it says that they're a healing race."

"So what race are you then? Sylph and Undine are the only races that I know of that can have white hair," she asked, leaning against her partner. Vin smiled and wrapped his arm around her with a gentle movement.

"I'm Spriggan," I replied, remembering why I had the avatar that I did and trying not to shudder. "The avatar is supposed to be super rare or something."

"I bet it is; I've never seen someone with it before," Jesse stated, patting Vin's arm lovingly. "So, where are the others?"

"Coming," Gerg replied, looking across the plains with his hand in front of his face to keep the virtual sunlight from obstructing his vision. "In fact, I think I see one of them now."

I turned to look where Gerg was facing and saw a red figure racing towards us. As he came closer, I could see that it was Auser's old avatar from SAO. _He must have chosen to be a Salamander, the race focused most on combat,_ I thought to myself, as the player landed nearby and walked towards us. _I should of predicted that._

Auser had been the main damage dealer of the guild and was legendary in SAO for his strength. When Mattias had first found him, he was fighting off a pack of level 15 wolves by himself; after defeating them with just a sliver of health left, he had immediately went off to fight another pack of mobs before Mattias had stopped him. When our intel-expert had asked the player if he would join our guild, he told him that he would only join us if one of us defeated him in a duel.

Being the leader, I had decided to accept his challenge and fought him. His moves were extremely predictable and I was able dodge most of them without a problem. However, his attacks were so strong and nonstop that the second I tried to attempt an offensive, he defeated me. After that, Vin, one of the best duelers in SAO, accepted his offer to a duel and defeated him within a few minutes. Seeing that we upheld our end of the offer, Auser held up his side of the deal and joined our guild. He soon became an important member of the group and, when the death game ended, asked if he could move out of his parent's house and into Jinx's house.

"Hey, who's the new guy?" the Salamander said, his confident stride matching his happy expression. It took me a few seconds to figure out that he was talking about me and I waved to him.

"Hey, it's Aiken," I replied, thinking about how more calm he seemed to be in the virtual world. I knew that despite however calm he seemed right now, his anger would pop back up again on the battlefield.

"Wow, you look super different with that hair," Auser remarked, coming to a stop at the edge of the circle we had made. "And that bow suits you better than your old sword."

"I can see that you're still using your favorite sword type," I said, not bothering to ask how he could tell that what my weapon was in its folded up form. I gestured to scabbard at the side of his crimson armor and smiled. "No reason to fix what works, huh?"

"Yea," Auser confirmed, drawing the broadsword to show a surprisingly red tinted blade. "This is Bloodspiller's Broadsword, my favorite weapon so far." The broadsword, even though it was a one-handed blade, usually required players to use two hands to wield it due to its weight. However, Auser was one of the few players who were able to hold it in one hand without wavering.

"Whoa, what kind of metal is that?" Gerg said, rushing closer to the Salamander and grabbing the weapon from him. I tried to not giggle as Auser fumed silently behind the Leprechaun with a red face. "I can't ID the ore used to make this and, because it's not a magic-type sword, I should be able to."

"I've heard people talk about that sword before," Jinx said, stepping into the conversation and rubbing his chin. Like Gerg, his faint stumble had been erased when he transferred his avatar from SAO to ALO, so the action seemed rather strange. "It's supposed to be this unique weapon that the general of the Salamander army had. How'd you get a hold of it?"

"I got it after a duel with General Eugene," Auser claimed proudly, obviously calming down from having his favorite sword taken from him. "He said it's always been too heavy for him, so he gave it to me."  
"Wait, so you got a weapon after defeating him, like Vin did when he defeated Lord Alrik?" Jesse asked, mirroring my own question. She was still wrapped up in Vin's arms but she was leaning forward in interest now.

"Well... I didn't win the duel," Auser said, almost muttering the last few words. "He gave it to me because he said I had 'spunk'." I watched how his scarlet hair moved in the wind and thought about how well it suited him, despite being such a strange color.

"I don't know if 'spunk' is the right word for it," Jinx said, grinning as Gerg handed the sword back to the Salamander. "But you've got something, that's for sure."

"So do you use a shield as well sometimes like you used to?" I asked, curious to see if Auser's battle strategy had changed from his time in SAO.

"Nope," the Salamander answered, sheathing his broadsword with a satisfying click. "I don't need to when I can use my other hand for the other type of damage."

"Wait, what do you mean by-"

"Hey guys!"

I looked behind me just in time to be hit full on with the force of a running player. I started to fall backwards before Gerg caught me and pushed me back up to a standing position. Feeling something furry twitch under nose, I leaned back to get a look at my grappling attacker.

Two slitted pupils in a circle of gold looked back up at me and I smiled as I realized that the rest of the face was that of Kitty's. "Hey, what's up Aiken?" she said, the edges of her mouth curling upwards and her left cat ear twitching.

"Hey Kitty," I said pulling away and resisting the urge to touch her furry ears. "How can you tell it's me?"

"Um, I looked at your cursor tag," she replied and I thought I saw the shadow of a tail move behind her. "So, what do you think?" She twirled around, letting her cloth-like armor spin around in the air as the current picked it up. Noticing light glinting off of something, I saw that she had four blades coming out of each hand and figured that these were the claw weapons that I had heard so much about. I confirmed the fact that she had a tail and, blushing, wondered briefly where it came from.

"It's a really good look for you," I said, knowing how much she loved how her SAO avatar had converted into the Cait Sith race. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how well the ears and tail fitted my artistic friend.

"There's something to be said about your... getup too," She said, taking off the gauntlets that made up the bottom part of her claws to run her finger down my exposed stomach. "I didn't know you were into this sort of thing, Gerg."

"Hey, I didn't design them: I just made them," Gerg said, his face turning a shade of dark pink as he shook his head and waving his hands in front of him. "Ashley was the one who designed it."

"Ashley the seamstress? She did my armor in SAO and here," Kitty said, pulling back her hand and poking my chestguard. "I wonder why she designed such a... revealing piece."

"Ashley did both Vin's and my armor," Jesse said, gesturing to herself. Although I didn't really necessarily notice it before, Jesse's armor showed a large amount of her cleavage while Vin didn't have any openings in the chest area of his armor. "Even though it's the same armor, mine looks... different. When I asked her, she told me that she didn't get to really design what the armor was going to look like and that it looked different on male players and female players."

"Well, they do say that this game was made by a pervert," Jinx said, running his hand through his hair and shrugging. "Who's to say that he didn't like a little guy action too?"

"In actuality, the Dark Ranger's Armor Set that Aiken is wearing was originally intended to be a female-only set but the game master, Sugou Nobuyuki, never got around to fixing it," a familiar soft voice said from behind me.

I turned around to see my favorite former info-broker; Mattias was leaning on a dark blue rod and smiling. His hair was a light blue, similar to my hair in real life, but slightly darker; it looked like he had converted his avatar from SAO as well. "At least I'm assuming that you're Aiken because you're with a group of people that look like my friends from real life."

"Wait, so you haven't met up with the others in ALfheim before?" I asked, scrunching up my eyebrows in confusion. "And what's that weapon you have there?"

"Nope," Mattias replied, shaking his baby blue covered head. "I've been playing solo until today when you said that you wanted to meet up. And this is a staff, by the way; it's good for magic."

I walked over to where he was standing and inspected the weapon. "What's it called and - Wait: what do you mean magic?"

"It's called Gaze of Arrogance," the Undine replied, looking at me with a confused expression. "And you really don't know about magic?"

"Shoot, I forgot to mention that to him," Jinx said, combing his hair with his fingers. "ALO has a magic system that is unique to each race."

"That's what I was trying to say before," Auser said in an exasperated tone and held up his left hand. "I can use this hand to direct magic attacks while using the other hand to swing my sword." He started to draw his sword to demonstrate but Jinx waved his arm to show that that wouldn't be necessary.

"The types of magic are fire for Salamanders, wind for the Sylphs, water for us Undines, earth for Gnomes, dark for Imps, illusion for Spriggans, music for Pookas, crafting for Leprechauns, and beast taming for Cait Siths," Mattias explained and I nodded in understanding.

"Wait," I said, looking at his face and realizing something. "So all of you guys converted your SAO avatars?"

Everyone nodded and a weird feeling built up inside of me. "So that makes me the only one here who created a new avatar for ALO," I deduced, talking with the tip of my thumbnail between my teeth. _I guess I'm the only one who has a reason to,_ I thought to myself, pulling my thumb away from my mouth. _Just like dyeing my hair in real life, I have to be careful that no one from SAO recognizes me._

"Aside from stating the obvious, don't you have a reason why you wanted to meet up with us?" Mattias said, shifting the conversation's direction. I could tell that he was trying to appear impatient but he only came off as excited, which was more likely what his true emotions were.

"Yes," I said, wanting to ask more questions about magic but keeping in mind what my priorities were. "I wanted to ask you guys if you will accept me as your leader once again and start our old guild again."

There was a moment of silence as we stood in our distorted circle and the faint breeze blew through the group. I started to worry that I had made the wrong move by stating my intentions before explaining how I should be re-elected to my old post. In SAO, I had remained the commander, even after I started hunting PKers, because I was a skilled player and leader. However, in a VRMMO where death in-game didn't mean death in real life, there was no reason why I should still be the leader of a guild, much less their guild.

"You know that I've always got your back, little brother," Jinx said, breaking the uneasy quiet that had settled around us. He walked over to me and gave me an exaggerated salute with a goofy grin. I smiled at my best friend and felt my eyes water a little.

"No matter what, you'll always be my commander," Gerg said, stepping closer to me and placing his hand on my shoulder. "I'll be glad to be a part of your guild again."

There was a short hush and Kitty opened her mouth to say something but Vin interrupted her before she could speak. "You're my best friend," Vin said, his normally quiet voice seeming to echo in the tense atmosphere. "I don't trust anyone more to lead me into battle." He walked over to where Gerg and Jinx had positioned themselves beside me and gave me a small smile.

"I'll go wherever Vin goes," Jesse stated, following her partner and standing beside him. "And you always seemed to be a good leader."

Kitty, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, looked like she was going to explode if she didn't say something soon. "I-I trust you!" she blurted, her voice gradually getting lower as she realized that she was shouting. "Everything you did was to help the rest of us and I don't think we would of made it if it weren't for you." She grinned at me with a sort of unease and walked over to take a place next to me.

The only two that were left were Auser and Mattias; seeing that they seemed to be deep in thought, I tried to figure out what was on their minds. "What about you Auser? Do you want to have me as your leader?" I asked, knowing that I might not exactly like what I heard.

"Are you sure that you're suited for the job of leader?" Auser said, his eyes scrutinizing me. "I don't mean anything bad, it's just that: what if we get attacked by some players? What'll we do?"

"We'll protect him, of course," Gerg replied, crossing his arms and taking a step forward. "Because that's what we do: we keep each other safe." I glanced over to my roommate and gave him a grateful smile.

"Well... when you put it like that..." Auser said, taking a step forward and staring at me with scarlet eyes. "I couldn't really ask for a better commander; you're a great fighter and you treat everyone with the same amount of respect. I'll join the guild again." Having stated his mind, he made his way over to my side and turned around to look at the only member who hadn't joined us yet.

The Undine was leaning on his staff and seemed to be deep in thought. Noticing that he was the only person who remained that wasn't on my side, he cleared his throat and stood up. "In Sword Art Online, you left your post multiple times after the death of a member to get revenge," he stated, his intelligent azure eyes piercing mine. "For a year, you seemed to be a completely different person, one that was filled with hate and disgust for everyone else."

I hung my head, knowing that when Mattias left, the guild would just be a hollow shell of what it had been before_. It would make seeing him in the real world really awkward and weird,_ I thought to myself, dreading the situation that I was in right now. As much as Mattias could be a know-it-all and an arrogant nerd, I still considered him as one of my friends and I would be sad to see him go.

"You killed so many people and, although we understand how you felt when you got back to the real world, we were all a little scared of you in Sword Art Online," Mattias continued, gesturing to the players that were on either side of me. Although no one outright agreed with him, the obvious lack of dissent with Mattias' statement told me that it was true. "However, you were only doing what you thought was right. After that year, I saw that you changed and you were no longer hunting for revenge, but to protect all of us."

"The truth remains that if it wasn't for your actions, hundreds of other players would have continued to die because psychopaths were roaming free in the game," Mattias concluded with a faint smile. "Because of that, I would be glad to be under your leadership once again." And with that, he lifted his staff off of the ground and walked over to me.

With tears in my eyes, I thrust my hand out in front of me, palm down. "Then let's put in guys," I said as Jinx and Gerg placed their hands on top of mine. "Because, without you guys, I wouldn't be anything."

One by one, each of my members placed their hands in the middle and I felt pride swell up in me. _Because... without them, I wouldn't be anything,_ I thought to myself.

_Without them, I wouldn't be able to heal from these wounds I've given myself._

* * *

**Author's Note:** Planed on this chapter being longer than it actually is but stopped myself before I made it too long. Reminder, I am in desperate need of reviews so please don't be afraid to leave your two cents below!


	7. Chapter 7 - You Said Something, Kitty?

"Five million yul?!"

Jinx and I nodded and Gerg whistled, obviously impressed. After completing the event quest, both of us had received the reward, which had been the apparently large amount of money. _At first, I wasn't sure if it was a lot of money,_ I thought to myself, walking a short distance towards the World Tree in the distance. Each MMO can have a different rate of currency value. In some games, a million would equal the same as 100,000 would in another.

"So, what are you gonna spend the money on?" Kitty asked, taking her right hand claw off of her belt and fitting it back on. She seemed rather energetic for someone who had just tattooed symbols on eight different people, including herself; then again, the process for placing a guild tattoo on a player was considerably easier in VRMMOs than in the real world.

"Well, I've already spent mine on a penthouse in Pooka territory," Jinx claimed, smiling widely. "It's completely furnished and upgraded; looks like it's the high life for me from now on."

"Wait, when did you do that?" I asked, turning to look at him. "And why would you get a house on ALfheim if we're gonna be in New Aincrad?"

"I bought it through an auction message when you were logging off," Jinx explained, crossing his arms with pride. "And you can use a special teleport crystal to go from your house to any cleared floor in New Aincrad."

"So, what are you gonna use your money for?" Gerg asked, stepping forward, his armor clanking slightly as he moved. "Planning on buying a big house too?"

I thought deeply for a few moments before answering. As a general rule, I tended to be a horrible budget planner and saver. "I'm going to save the majority of it, seeing as how it's a kind of free money," I said, opening my trade window and selecting Gerg. "The rest of it is going to you to open your old shop."

"Wait, really?" the Leprechaun said as the trade window popped up on his side. I nodded and he tapped the accept button. "I can't wait to have 'Belts and Blades' in business again!"

"Why don't you go ahead of us?" I suggested, rotating my shoulders and stretching. "I'm gonna take the rest of the guild on a dungeon raid to gather some money for the old guild house."

"Sure thing boss," Gerg said, giving me a hasty salute before shooting off into the air towards the World Tree. I watched his figure grow smaller in the distance and wondered briefly how he could move so fast even though he was so big.

"So... a dungeon raid?" Vin asked, coming up behind me. I turned around and saw that he was wearing a coy expression and I exhaled a sigh of relief. It had been a while before I had been the leader of anything and I was still getting used to giving orders.

"If all of you guys are up to it," I replied, spreading my wings and smiling. From the excited faces of my guild members, I could tell that they were more than ready to fight together again. "Now, how do we get to Aincrad?"

"The teleport statue to the Town of Beginnings is in Yggdrasil City," Mattias answered, making a motion to push his glasses farther up on his nose, but then, realizing that he wasn't wearing any, dropped his hand to his side.

"Wait, you mean Alne, right?" I asked, moving my wings around and hearing the satisfying sound of them moving in the wind.

"No, Yggdrasil City is in the branches of the World Tree," Mattias said, putting his staff on his back and activating his wings. "We can either take the elevator from Alne up to it or we can just fly up to the city."

Seeing Kitty and Auser activate their wings in preparation for takeoff, I nodded. "Let's take the most direct path, guys," I ordered resisting the urge to get a running start before flying. Crouching down low, I pushed off of the ground with all of my strength. Feeling myself hurtling through the air, I couldn't help myself as a little grin made its way to my face.

Like pieces of a broken rainbow, my companions took to the sky with me and sped towards the upper branches of Yggdrasil. Propelling myself forward, I managed to level myself with Kitty, who turned her head to smile at me.

"So, will we have to take any breaks on the way there to regain flying power?" I asked, stretching my hands out in front of me as if I were grasping at the clouds above.

"We don't need to anymore," Mattias answered from behind me; he was the last person in the pack but he didn't seem to be struggling to keep up. "After the game was acquired by Ymir, unlimited flight was given to all the races."

"So... it's like Aion but with unlimited flight and nine races instead of two," I observed out loud, turning the palms of my hands towards me. _It's been a while since I've been back in my element,_ I thought to myself. _What if I've lost my touch?_

"What's Aion?" Auser asked, dipping the left side of his body to move closer to me. His crimson hair was being whipped by the wind and I realized that the scar on his forehead must have been erased when he transferred his avatar from SAO. Although we never did get a full explanation as to where the scar was from, the general assumption was that it was just another byproduct of a fight.

"Aion is the MMO where Kit and I first met," I said, glancing over at the Cait Sith flying next to me. "In fact, you could say she's the whole reason why I ever decided to move to Japan."

"That's not true..." Kitty murmured, facing the rushing ground below. I thought I could see the hints of a blush on her cheeks, but I couldn't see what her face looked like.

"It totally is," I insisted, bumping into her playfully. "If it wasn't for my amazing driver in APB, I would have never gotten high enough on my ranks to earn enough money to come to Japan."

Kitty continued to stare at the ground for a while and I started to wonder if I had done something wrong. She was the only person from Japan that I knew before coming to the country and we had always been very close. In fact, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have ever met Vin, one of my best friends and roommates. After a moment of awkward silence, my friend looked up at me with a flushed face and said, "E-Eric would you l-like to-"

"Kraaayyyhhh!"

Seeing something blue flash in front of me, I backpedaled and almost did an unintended back flip in the air. Feeling myself sink in the sky, I quickly righted myself and started to hover instead. The rest of my guild stopped and moved towards me.

"I'm so sorry!" a high pitched voice cried above me and I looked up to see a familiar face. With two large cat ears and a blue trench coat-like armor set, the girl from that fateful day on floor 47 was hovering above me. A pale blue feathered dragon was flying around her head and crying, obviously in shock from almost getting ran into. _That must be the familiar that she was trying to revive with the Pneuma Flower,_ I thought to myself. _It's fairly common for former SAO players to import their familiars and pets from the old game._

I waved that I was okay and said, "Who is that girl?" Waving back but not hearing my comment, the Cait Sith spun around and continued flying up towards Yggdrasil City. Seeing that her skirt was rather short, I averted my eyes from the spectacle that the girl was unknowingly putting on.

"That's Silica, one of the few beast tamers from SAO," Jinx said, once again showing the benefits of being socially connected. "Apparently she's a friend of Kirito's and goes to our school; I've never seen her though."

"That reminds me!" Kitty exclaimed, obviously over whatever had been bothering her before. I briefly wondered what it had been that she had wanted to ask me. "I know a breaker from SAO that is playing ALO too!"

"Wait, a breaker?" I asked, raising my eyebrows in surprise. "Why didn't you invite her to the guild?"

"Well... I met her sort of after you got that one nickname... the "bane" one," she replied, ducking her head slightly as she said the last part. "Anyways she was this little girl and a tamer."

"How little?" Mattias asked, speeding up slightly to hear in on the conversation. His short, baby blue hair was dancing in the wind and his eyes were wide and interested. _Why does he care?_ I wondered, looking up at my two guild members who hadn't spoken since we started flying.

Vin and Jesse were flying and holding hands, their wings just barely touching each other's. I felt something pang in my chest and I quickly put my hand over my heart. _What on earth was that?_ I thought, removing my hand as the feeling passed. _It's not like me to get like that from seeing couples._

"I'm not sure, but she looked about eight or nine," Kitty answered, spinning around in the air and looking up at the clouds for a moment before turning around again. "Why do you want to know?"

"That's impossible," Mattias said, shaking his head. I perked up, focusing on the human database that was my friend. "Sword Art Online had an age restriction: she would have been kicked out."

"Maybe she lied on the age screen," I suggested, shrugging. "Anyways, what made her a breaker, Kit?"

"Well, the thing about her that was different was that she never used a weapon," Kitty said, her voice taking on a secretive tone as she spoke. I raised my eyebrows and gave her a quizzical look to indicate for her to continue. "She somehow managed to tame one of those astrotech monsters from floor 15: it was this big suit of armor with a lance."

"Well, that's cool and all but I'm still wondering what you were gonna ask Aiken before he almost ran into Silica's pet," Jinx remarked coyly. I looked up at him and saw a mischievous glint in his eye; I had the strange feeling that he somehow knew what she had wanted to ask me.

"You're still on my bad list, Jinx," Kitty said, turning her head to glare at the Pooka. I sensed the anger coming off of her and wondered why the two of them could never seem to get along. Jinx could make friends with almost anyone and everyone; however, Kitty seemed to be immune to his charm. In fact, she seemed to respond to his antics and goofy behavior negatively.

As the two of them started to bicker back and forth, I thought back to when Darkness Falls was first labeled as SAO's only breaker guild.

* * *

In MMOs, a breaker is a player who uses the weaker skills and weapons in a game to their advantage. Oftentimes, breakers are considered to be eccentrics with no real interest in the actual game play in itself and only seek to ruin the balance that the community depends on. However, the opposite is very true; breakers, because they are so invested in certain aspects of the virtual world that they play in, choose to perfect the skills that most players overlook and create unique styles of combat.

Take, for example, the class known as the Ranger; in most MMORPGs, the Ranger is a type of ranged damage dealer that uses a bow. However, a majority of MMOs that have the Ranger class also allow the player to equip a sword in addition to the class's main weapon. Most players consider the sword to be useless when playing as a Ranger because of the lack of attack skills for it. A breaker, on the other hand, would research the Ranger class and figure out the specific combination of traps, skills, and buffs that he could use to create a fighting style with the underrated weapon that would rival a stereotypical Ranger.

The term "breaker" doesn't just apply to class and race exploits, though; any underrated skill or ability is up for grabs for the specialized players. In all honesty, breakers are horrible in PVE combat, leading most players to believe that they are horrible at the game. However, breakers are at a specific advantage over other players in PVP combat; by not following the predetermined norm in choosing how they use their skills and attacks, breakers create unique fighting styles that can't be countered or predicted easily.

**January 9th, 2023**

"Oh yeah, that's another hit!" Kitty cried as her short sword landed a critical hit on the spot on her opponents leg that his armor didn't cover. Swinging with her left arm, her blade clashed with the soldier's broadsword. She stabbed forward with her right arm, the sharp edge of her short sword glancing off of his thick chestguard. Quickly bending backwards to avoid the player's wide swing, Kitty swiped upwards again with her left hand, landing yet another hit on the soft spot on his leg.

"Arrrggghhhh!" her dueling opponent yelled, charging at my guild member with his sword pointed forward. Kitty quickly slide to the side, deflecting the blade up towards the sky with the sword in her left hand. With his defense completely gone, Kitty pierced him in the chest with her right hand weapon, successfully bringing his health down to yellow.

"Guess that means I win... again," Kitty said, pointing up at the winner icon above her head. I chuckled and started to walk over to her to congratulate her before I was stopped by the loser of the duel.

"You're hacking!" he accused, pointing a quivering finger at my friend. The crowd that had gathered to watch my companion wipe the floor with the Divine Dragon Alliance guild member gasped and started to murmur amongst each other. "How else are you able to Dual Wield?"

"I'm not a hacker!" Kitty shouted, her voice shaking slightly. "I'm not dual wielding either! I'm a breaker!" I started slightly at the statement; VRMMOs weren't very common, at least before SAO started, but "breaker" was one of the old MMO terms that didn't seem to pertain to the new type of gameplay.

Calming down a little from her outburst, Kitty unsheathed her short sword from its scabbard on her belt and continued. "You see this? It's only one blade; you can't 'dual wield' without two swords right?" she said, starting to throw the sword from one hand to the other. "This is a skill called Weapon Switch and everyone has it."

There was muttering from the mass of players that had gathered since the elite guild member's accusation and the sound of player menus opening as they checked to see if Kitty's claim was true. I knew that my friend was telling the truth; in fact, she was the first one who demonstrated to me what you could do with a high level of Weapon Switch.

"Most players don't bother with it because they don't see it as really being useful," Kitty explained, watching the crowd from the corner of her eye. "But with a high level of Weapon Switch, you can start an attack with your sword in one hand and end it with another." She smiled as several admiring voices started to murmur excitedly.

"You're a breaker?!" the DDA member remarked as he stood up with a tinge of disbelief in his voice. "In this death game? You'd rather study skills that'll only help you in PVP fighting than actually getting better so you can help on the front lines?!"

"What? No, this is just the way I want to-" Kitty started as the crowd's tone started to change from awe to disgust.

"Your guild leader's a breaker too, isn't he?" the player claimed, encouraged by the players around him. "That's why he uses so many projectile weapons, huh? I bet everyone in Darkness Falls is a breaker and you're all waiting to kill us when you get the chance."

"That's ridiculous!" I retorted, walking forward and drawing the light iron long sword that Gerg had made for me a week ago. "Despite how much I want to kick your butt right now, I don't plan on ever killing you or any other player. We're a breaker guild, not a PK guild." I briefly thought about the fiery tempered player that we had just recently recruited and the two oldest members of my guild. _Hopefully they won't mind being in a breaker guild even though Selwyn, Jinx, and the new guy aren't breakers,_ I thought to myself.

"You said it yourself," the soldier scoffed, turning and facing the crowd. "Anyone who wants to risk their lives in this death game and be a 'breaker', we'll be sure to send them to you and your guild." A few sarcastic chuckles rose from the crowd and I gritted my teeth as anger started to bubble within me.

"And we'll welcome them with open hands," I said, raising my voice to be heard by everyone in the area. "It's stupid to turn someone away from a guild just because they don't fight like you want them to; we need to protect as many players as we can in this game." I sheathed my sword and motioned for Kitty and Vin to follow me outside of the dueling house of the twelfth floor.

From that day on, Darkness Falls became known as the "breaker guild" and we were looked down on from the elite guilds, such as DDA and the Knights of the Blood Oath. Because of the obvious lack of breakers in that death game, we never got any applications from players wanting to join the game. In fact, after we recruited Jesse, we never got any new players and stayed a small guild in comparison to other guilds.

* * *

"So, we're all ok for the plan?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

I was standing in front of the entrance to the dungeon for floor 23, a floor whose boss had been defeated a while ago by a raid party that included the former second in command of the Knights of the Blood Oath and her boyfriend, according to Mattias. The dungeon appeared to be the stereotypical enemy cave and I was willing to bet that there would be goblins of some sort or the other inside.

"I'm foaming at the mouth for some action, chief," Auser said, drawing his sword and giving me a wide, foam-less grin. The rest of the remaining members of my guild nodded in confirmation; we were going in as an attack party with no one playing as the tank, in true VRMMO style. In all honesty, the tank position is sort of an archaic term when it comes to VR games; with improved AI, mobs tended to be trickier to defend against and smart enough to see past simple diversions and taunts.

"I'm ready when you guys are," Mattias remarked, tapping his staff against the ground. The Undine would be providing protective magic and healing in the heat of battle, while Jinx protected both him and I from melee enemies. I noticed briefly that the ends of his staff were adorned with bright cyan crystals and I wondered how he came across it. From what I could tell, it was an ultra rare monster drop, seeing as how blacksmiths couldn't make magic weapons and how detailed the design of the weapon was.

"Alright then, everyone get into position. Vin and Jes: I want you two in front," I ordered, grabbing the end of my bow from where it hung on my back and expanding it with my right hand. "At least until we come across some aggressive mobs; then, Auser can take point if he wants."

The Salamander nodded gratefully at me from his spot beside of Kitty and turned to follow the two Imps into the forbidding dungeon. I thought about the Cait Sith that had now equipped her claws again in preparation for the upcoming fights. When I had mentioned earlier that we should have guild uniforms, at least for official guild raids and business, she had almost jumped on top of me. She begged me to let her design the outfits and I had relented, not seeing why she shouldn't be the one to do so.

I chuckled to myself as I thought about my quirky, artistic friend and Jinx turned around to look at me. "What's so funny?" he asked, the corners of his mouth curling upwards. I started to answer when the two members at the front of the group stopped suddenly.

"We've got a group of two enemies coming!" Vin shouted, unsheathing his sword and holding it in front of him in one hand. I grinned despite myself; every time I saw that stance, I could always tell that someone was going to be hitting the ground, losing yet another fight with the "Dark Duelist"

I pulled my bow up in front of me and notched an arrow before using my Night Vision skill to identify the enemy. Deciding not to use torches before going farther into the cave to prevent traps at the beginning, we had agreed to rely on both my eyesight and the duo in front's. I soon was able to observe two figures scuttling towards us with what appeared to be clubs with nails imbedded in them.

I quickly fired my projectile before grabbing another arrow and readying it. With a soft thud, it hit my target and the goblin-like creature stumbled back a few steps. Taking advantage of its disorientation, I let go of my finger that was holding back the bowstring and watched as the arrow raced through the tunnel air. It hit the tiny humanoid enemy, which shivered slightly before it exploded in a bright display of polygons. The flash illuminated the cave for a short amount of time, showing the location of the other mob, which had slowed down when his companion was killed.

"Only two arrows to take it down? This'll be too easy," Auser said, holding his left hand up in a claw motion. "_Ek verpa einn brandr muspilli, kalla bresta bani, steypa lundr drótt_." Bright, glowing symbols surrounded him in the shape of cylinder as he spoke the incantation quickly, almost blurring the foreign words together. A flaming ball of fire formed in his hand and he thrust it towards the spot where the enemy had appeared in the flash of light.

"No Auser, wait!" Mattias shouted, moving as if to grab the Salamander. However, his cry was in vain as the projectile was already in route to the mob. The fire ball lighted up the cave as it raced towards its target and I saw hundreds of eyes staring at me from holes in the tunnel walls. _Wait, what?_ I thought to myself, regretting that we hadn't picked a floor dungeon that we could have harvested intel about. Unfortunately, floor 24 had almost exclusively been cleared by the Divine Dragon Alliance in SAO, which didn't share any information about quests or enemies that they encountered. Furthermore, Kirito and his group hadn't released information about this dungeon when they completed it in ALO.

The missile soon hit the mob and exploded in a large cloud of debris and smoke, successfully killing the enemy. Hearing the sound of a plethora of bare feet moving around in the darkness, I gripped my bow tighter and notched an arrow. My night vision wasn't nearly as high or developed as Vin's, so I could only see the enemies that were in my range.

"Sounds like we're gonna need a light sooner rather than later," Jinx remarked, stabbing his halberd into the ground and clasping his hands together. "_Oss náða nótt lysa auga_." The circling golden symbols appeared around him like they did with Auser, but this time a familiar tune from an old video game played from somewhere and a glowing sphere of light appeared from within the Pooka's chest and floated up to the ceiling.

The light effectively illuminated the entire cavern and I switched off my night vision and gasped. Hundreds of little goblin creatures were scurrying towards us, brandishing makeshift weapons. Their skin was a deep red and their faces were scrunched up, almost as if in eternal fury. I let fly one of my arrows and gave a battle cry, ready to take on this army. My comrades echoed my shout and charged forward bravely.

"How did you know that this would happen?" I asked Mattias in between taking shots at two goblin enemies who were trying to flank Jesse. "That the goblins would swarm us?"

"They're called Kobold Infantrymen," he replied, keeping a steady eye on the group's HP and pointing at one of the creatures that had foolishly surrounded Kitty. She spun around, twisting her body in the air like a leaf caught in a whirlwind, and slashed through the group with her dual claws. "And I didn't know; I took a guess, based on the fact that one enemy was so weak. It's an attack strategy: get tons of underlings together and overpower the player by ambushing them."

Thinking back to SAO, I shuddered to think how many players died while trying to clear this dungeon; back then, a lot of players still hadn't developed their Night Vision skill and would have brought torches into the cave. I killed three Kobolds that had started to charge Auser and stopped briefly to watch the fiery swordsman slash through the hordes of enemies that blocked his path from the rest of the group.

"God, it feels so good to fight after not being able to because of Ansoni," Auser exclaimed, cutting one of the mobs in half. His anger-filled face carried a tinge of happiness and I felt my heartbeat increase as I looked at the picture of terror.

"Speaking about Ansoni, how is he healing up?" I asked Jinx, who was fighting off the few Kobolds that managed to get past the front lines. I finished off the mobs that were around Kitty and gestured for her to move closer to Auser's position.

"He's still got to wear the bandages but he should be able to take them off soon," Jinx answered, knocking one of the enemies into the air, where it exploded into a shimmering array of light. I nodded, firing at the enemies that were still arriving to the spot where my group was fighting. Ansoni, Jinx and Auser's roommate, apparently used to watch the two of them whenever they Full Dived and wait for them to come back anxiously. A couple weeks ago, Auser logged out to see his roommate leaning over him and freaked out, breaking his nose with a hard punch. After that, Ansoni stuck to just hiding his roommates' AmuSpheres and complaining about their obsessions with VRMMOs.

Even though the enemies were still pouring in, I could tell that we were still going to be fine; Vin and Jesse's duel fighting style was a thing of beauty that I considered to be stronger than any one player out there. The duo would split up, cutting down enemies with their katanas and then converge again, almost if in a dance of their own. Back to back, the two duelists mirrored each other's blow for their own and fought as one unit.

"_Ek svartr þrír geirr muspilli_" Jesse chanted, holding her unarmed hand in front of her as if motioned for the coming horde to stop. As she spoke, the same circle of words surrounded her again and I saw something on her blade that terrified me. Near where the hilt would be, there was a mass of material that I took to be artistic licensing on the generic hilt design. However, a large, grotesque eye blinked open and moved to look at me. When the symbols faded around her, three beams of dark purple energy fired from her hand, hitting a group of Kobolds and the gross orb disappeared behind its lids.

"Um, Jes? Did your sword just wink at me?" I shouted to be heard above the sounds of battle. I shot a particularly ugly Kobold that had managed to get past Jinx and knocked it out of the way with my bow. A warning come up that my weapon's durability had been decreased by 50 points and I made a mental note to not do that again.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, it does that," she said, ducking down low and kick sweeping a couple mobs that had made their way past her offense. "It's an event drop and that eye opens up every time that I use a spell." She flipped over the grounded group of enemies and slashed downwards, creating a brilliant display of white light.

By now, the remaining Kobold Infantrymen's numbers were probably somewhere around 40 or 30 and I sensed a change in the attack patterns. Looking up, I saw a figure appear at the point where the tunnel curved downwards. Pulling the bowstring back, I waited until the enemy moved closer before I would fire.

Waiting until about 20 meters from the nearest player, the mob started to run towards my guild mates. I tensed up, waiting until I could get a clear shot at the fast moving figure, which was taller than the Kobolds. It finally stopped, turning towards me and lifting the spear that it had been holding in its hand in the air. I started to loosen my fingers that were holding the arrow back when I noticed its obviously human face.

Although I could clearly see that it was an enemy NPC, I froze up as flashes of the faces of hundreds of dead SAO players, killed in their hospitals where they had been kept alive until then, appeared in front of me. I tried to move, to do something, but my muscles wouldn't respond as the enemy lunged forward and threw its weapon at me.

As the spear hurtled at me, I came to the realization that when it hit me, it would be killing blow; even though it was moving fast, I could still tell that it was going to hit me in the face and it would take my health down to zero. When the spear was about one meter away from me, I started to close my eyes when the flash of light reflecting off of steel made my eyelids flutter open again.

"Vin!" Jinx shouted, pulling Orenmir out of the cave floor where it was lodged. The spear lay in two pieces in front of me, where it soon burst into shinning polygons. Putting two and two together, I turned to look at my best friend with gratitude.

The Imp turned back to see what Jinx wanted and quickly assessed the situation. "I need someone to take that enemy out!" he ordered, taking his spot as second-in-command. _That was quick_, I thought, dazed slightly. Is _that how quickly he took command in SAO when I went on my hunts?_

"I've got it!" Auser yelled triumphantly, charging at the spear-thrower. Confused by having to change targets so quickly, the mob froze, allowing the Salamander to slash it wide across its chest and stab it in the arm.

Seeing my teammate attack the NPC shook me out of my reverie and I launched the arrow that I had been holding back for so long at a group of Kobolds in between where Jesse and Kitty were fighting their respective enemies. Successfully gained the agro of the enemies, I fired a quickly volley of arrows at them, killing them in matter of seconds.

I notched another arrow and raised my bow before realizing that no one was fighting anymore. Kitty nudged the body of one of the Kobolds that was still lying down on the ground and yelped when it burst into the familiar dying animation. Vin and Jesse gave each other a high five and then hugged while Mattias leaned against his staff. The Undine only had to heal once or twice during the fight and was obviously put off by this fact.

"Thanks for helping me out there, Aus," I said, clapping the Salamander on his back in gratitude. My guild member moved away from me with an annoyed smile and raised his hands in defense.

"Who said you could give me a nickname?" he said, reminding me that, unlike most of my friends, I hadn't introduced him to the shortened moniker that I called him by in my mind.

"I think it's a pretty good name, Aus," Jinx said, rubbing his head and ducking away from the steaming player. I chuckled as the Salamander started to chase my quartermaster around in a circle.

_Where would I be without them?_ I wondered to myself, smiling at their camaraderie. _We all protected each other with our lives in SAO and would probably do so again if given the choice._

PoH's words echoed in my mind and my mood shifted. _What if I'm only endangering them by being around them?_ I thought to myself as I started to walk further into the dungeon, my heart growing heavier with each step.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I can't wait for Chapter 8! I get to introduce one of my favorite characters then! Plus, I want to thank my amazing beta reader, Undeadmonkey8, for his help with this chapter! Anyways, leave reviews and let me know what you guys think! As always, check out www. draclink. blogspot. com for illustrations with the chapters!


	8. Chapter 8 - Caught Like a Fly

Author's Note: Hey, I am really sorry it has been so long since I've posted a chapter but I have been crazy busy with college and work (_insane_ busy). Anyways, I finally get to introduce one of my favorite characters in this chapter and I hope you guys like her as much as I do. I'll be doing a poll two chapters from now so that's something to look forward to. As always, go to www. draclink. blogger .com if you want to see this with illustrations.

* * *

"Wait - Can you repeat that again?"

Josh gave the lady at the cash register one of his best smiles and proceeded to rattle off a long list of ingredients for his frozen treat. Devon and Jeshika silently took their orders from the flustered employee with gratitude and sat down at one of the tables near the windows.

It had been a week since we restarted the guild and we had finally gotten enough money to buy the old manor house on floor thirteen. So, to celebrate this, Josh suggested that we should all go and get milkshakes. It had seemed like a good idea at the time and I figured that I could use some time outside of school and my house; however, it seemed that Josh's only plan was to confuse the employees by asking for as many specific toppings as possible.

"You'd think they'd just give up and dump a bunch of random crap on it," Andorū mused, sipping on what looked like a strawberry milkshake_. It's funny, but fruity drinks and Andorū just seem... weird together, _I thought as I waited for my order from the staff, which seemed to be working on Josh's complex order now.

Andorū's hair got in his eyes and he brashly shifted it out of the way with his hand. His usually black hair was now dyed a scarlet color on the tips, apparently on suggestion from Josh. It definitely seemed to suit him, just as his red hair in ALO did. I heard a large crash from the back room and noted to myself that it was probably gonna be a while before they finished whatever monstrosity that Josh had ordered.

"Nah, it's that charisma of his," I countered, glancing over at my disheveled friend who was stirring her milkshake with her straw. Apparently, Katie had freaked out about an art project that was due on Monday and had spent all night on a self portrait, instead of spacing it out over the weekend like she normally would. "They like him too much to realize how much of a pain he is."

Catching me staring, she offered her milkshake to me and said, "Wanna try it? It's got these candies like Reese's from America." A misplaced strand of hair fell over her left eye and she blew it out of the way before giving me a drowsy smile. She was wearing an over-sized t-shirt and I could see the strap of the black tank top she was wearing underneath from her exposed shoulder.

"Sure," I said, accepting the outstretched cup and sucking on the straw before Andorū could ask what Reese's were. The sweet and salty taste of the mixture of peanut butter, chocolate, and vanilla rolled around in my mouth and I pulled away before I ended up drinking more of her milkshake than I probably should.

"You know that's like the same thing as kissing her, right?" Josh remarked, leaning against the counter, apparently oblivious to the chaos behind him. He wiggled his eyebrows and Katie glared at the ground, her face turning a bright shade of red.

"No, it's more like eating food that someone has already taken a bite of," I said, rolling my eyes and handing the shake back to my embarrassed and sleep-deprived friend. "Which is something, if I remember correctly, that you do to me on a regular basis."

Josh shrugged and gave me an apologetic smile as if he couldn't help but finish off my lunch before I got a chance to do it myself. "Hey, it's not my fault that you leave your food wide out there in the open," he said, combing his hand through his chestnut brown hair. Seeing the cash register lady gesturing for me, I walked over and got my milkshake from her.

"Between you guys and his insistence on skipping his physical therapy sessions, Eric's never gonna get better," Katie said, shaking her head, her bed head hairdo waving back and forth from the motion. "Anyways, what flavor did you get, 'archer'?"

I smiled at the mention of my new nickname, which Garrith had come up with in ALO. Seeing as how I was trying to create a new persona from the distasteful one I had created in SAO, my friend had decided to trade out "Player's Bane" with "The Archer". A bit lofty and mysterious, but I didn't mind that in comparison to the memories that my old epithet drudged up.

"I got furappuchīno," I answered, taking a sip out of the cold coffee-flavored shake. The faint buzz of the caffeine helped dull the headache that had developed in my head after the British Literature test on Friday. _I guess it's not really fair to blame the pain in my head completely on the test,_ I thought to myself. _It's probably from thinking too much on that guy, Nico. _

"Isn't that just coffee frozen and blended together with ice cream?" Katie asked, yawning and blinking sleepily at me. I briefly envisioned that she had her cat-like eyes from ALO and had to shake my head to get the image out of my mind.

"No, it's a sweet, cold beverage made from milk and ice cream mixed together with a coffee syrup," I stated matter-of-factly, struggling to keep a smirk down. I eventually resolved to hide it by sucking on my milkshake and keeping my head down.

Katie giggled and Josh shook his head and muttered something about birds. "So where's the big guy?" he asked, tapping his fingers on the counter. I saw one of the employees carrying a box marked "Kiwi" into the back room and briefly wondered what exactly what it was that my best friend had ordered.

"He's working on the truck's engine," I replied, gesturing behind me at the glass doors that led to the parking lot. I glanced around to check just in case Garrith had managed to walk in without me noticing; however, it seemed that he wasn't the only one missing from the group when I counted heads. "Where's Matt? Did he not come with you guys?"

"Saturdays are his studying days," Andorū replied, walking over to one of the larger circular tables in the middle of the café, apparently tired of standing around waiting for Josh's order to be finished. Katie and I followed him, taking seats on the other side of the glossy white ceramic table. "He spends all day researching the latest MMO developments and cheats that have been found."

"That sounds like our Mattias," I murmured, mimicking how Katie stirred her milkshake before drinking it. Although Matt could be an important and helpful member of the team, the arrogance that apparently comes with intelligence would lead to him taking on extra quests and tasks to become the strongest player in a fair number of the MMOs that we played together.

"Well, isn't this the picture of friendly social interactions," Jinx said with a nasally voice, cracking a grin and carrying a cup that I took to be his order. Taking a closer look, I thought I saw a small bread square pocking over the lid and made a note to not pry further into what exactly was in my friend's milkshake. He pulled out a chair next to Andorū and took a sip from the cold concoction in his hand before sitting down.

"Except for those two," Andorū said, gesturing towards where Devon and Jeshika were sitting quietly. To an outsider, it would have looked as if they were siblings, with their heads of raven black hair, that had come back from a funeral; however, Jeshika's facial expression revealed her animated personality . Devon was muttering something but I couldn't make out what it was, but I could tell it was a topic of great interest to the both of them.

"You know, for a couple that met in SAO, they're pretty weird, aren't they?" Josh commented offhandedly before taking a drink. "I mean: compared to most couples from SAO, they're pretty weird. They almost seem to just be friends in real life, but in ALO, they're the tightest couple ever."

I nodded but didn't comment as to what I thought about my roommate's relationship. Part of the reason why there was such a disconnect between the behavior of the duo in game and in real life was due to Devon himself. His personality changed a lot between the virtual world and the real world, becoming more lively and less pessimistic when he put on his Amusphere. However, that didn't mean that his relationship with Jeshika stopped as soon as he logged out of the VRMMO.

In SAO, Jesse had been a beta-tester and a unique skill user, one of the very few that I knew of. Vin had been dueling in the arena on the first floor a couple of days after we recruited Auser when he met her. He had been on a long winning streak and had been planning on retiring for the day when she requested a duel with him. The duel was fierce and, for a long time, neither side seemed to be taking damage. It wasn't until Jesse ended up using her unique skill, Dark Lightning, that she was finally able to get the upper hand on the other player.

After his loss, Vin ended up asking Jesse if she would join Darkness Falls and, after a bit of thought, she ended up agreeing to it. After a couple months of fighting and living together in the guild house, the two got married, surprising almost everyone in the group, who didn't realize the relationship between the two. Vin and Jesse were almost inseparable from that point on and it was clear that the two planned to continue the relationship when the death game ended.

When SAO ended, however, Jeshika never woke up and this broke Devon to his core. He didn't speak at all the entire time that the other half of him slept in a coma. It would get to the point to where Josh would try anything from pinching him to begging him, just to see if he would make a sound. Every single day, no matter what the weather was like, he would visit her and hold her hand; when Kirito found the hidden scheme in ALO and all the captured players were released, Devon finally started speaking again.

"It's kinda funny if you think about it," Josh continued, ignorant of my trip down memory lane. "Kirito got Asuna, Vin got Jesse - but our little leader never got someone… well, unless you count the mysterious Post-it Note Girl."

I smiled when he mentioned the Post-it Note Girl; back when I was still recovering in the hospital, after the Virtual Division finally left me alone, I lost my mind. In the end, even with my friends' care, I eventually broke down, passing out and losing a large chunk of my memory. One of my first memories after that was waking up in my hospital bed and finding a post-it note on the pole of my IV that was giving me sedatives.

"You're okay" was what the note said and it was just the first of many of them. Although we were in the same hospital, Josh and the others were only allowed to see me during visitor hours since my mental breakdown. I couldn't remember everything about what was happening to me and a lot of things made me terrified of the world around me. In addition to this, I was alone a lot and I often thought about ending the pain that came with the realization that you were the reason why 287 people never woke up.

It was in the midst of this that I would come across notes that appeared almost anywhere; on the door to my room, on the bathroom sink, on the table next to my bed. "You're fine", "You're safe", "Your name is Eric McNancy", and "You're okay" were just a few of them. I remember watching Josh leave my hospital room after visiting one day and seeing a note on the back of his t-shirt that said: "You love him". Eventually, I stopped needing these reminders because I started to believe it; I was going to be okay and I was going to recover from this.

I originally thought that it had been Josh that had been writing them, but when I asked him about it he denied it. We looked at one of the notes together and saw that the handwriting was very feminine in nature and my friend dubbed the mysterious note-writer the "Post-it Note Girl".

"Eric doesn't need a girl!" Katie blurted, perking up as if jolted by something painful. I smiled at her in gratitude for coming to the defense from my nosey big brother and she blushed oddly, turning her attention back to Josh.

I leaned back in my chair while the two of them bickered once again, my mind drifting off the girl from Sword Art Online that none of my friends knew about.

* * *

**July 25, 2024**

_The streets look clear tonight,_ I thought to myself, gathering my verdant cloak around myself and pulling the hood down.

I was crouched on top of one of the bastions of the town's wall, scouring the players that moved among the buildings below me for any orange players. Although PKers were not usually ones to show themselves around green players, a killing guild called Laughing Coffin had been reported as operating in this area.

_It's getting late,_ I observed, glancing around myself to see if the NPC town guard was coming back around. Although usually useless, NPC guards had been known to attack players with orange cursors; I've already had to kill a few myself because I had been mistaken for a PKer. _I doubt that they're really bold enough to attack players in the same town. If anything, that's just fool-_

Just then, I saw a flash of orange moving towards the village gate and I set my jaw. Looks like I don't ever get a break, I thought, quickly getting up and leaping off of my perch towards the streets below. Feeling the rush of wind in my face, I twisted my body so that I was falling with my chest pushed forward. I ducked forward and rolled onto the roof of a general store before shifting my direction to run in the other direction.

Although I couldn't see the player anymore, I knew that he was heading to the only exit out of the town and that his sprint wasn't anywhere near as high as mine. Making it to the end of the platform of shingles, I flipped into the air and landed on the building below with a soft thump, barely audible to anyone on the streets who were listening. I sprinted towards the edge of the long roof and turned to kick off backwards with all of my strength.

Seeing the world around me rotate as I flipped through the air, I quietly thanked the acrobatic skill in this game. In real life, I couldn't even manage so much as a front flip, despite being fit enough to run half-marathons. I landed on the wall-walk above the city gate and activated my night vision skill to search for my target.  
Hopping onto the battlement, I quickly located the orange player, who was running slower now that he was outside of the town. I vaulted off of the wall, my hair whipping around in the wind, and quickly grabbed an arrow loop around midway down the village's fortification. Swinging from the slit in the wall, I let go to fall towards where the oblivious player was recovering his breath.

Hitting the ground in a roll, I pulled out two paralyzing throwing picks and, upon coming up in an upright position, launched them at the criminal. To my surprise, the player weaved in and away from my silent attack and turned around to face me.

She had a face that seemed to be made to smile and laugh; her pale skin seemed to contrast with her slightly rounded and angular jaw line. Her eyes were large and wide open, showing irises with a million shades of a brilliant green and pupils that were dilated with the excitement of the moment. Her lips were dark and full, distinctively shaped as if drawn by a Romantic-era painter.

Her eyes shot up to my cursor and drew a strangely shaped dagger from her belt. I raised my right hand to tell her to stop while pulling three throwing daggers from behind my back. _Just in case this gets out of hand like it usually does, _I reminded myself, very aware that female player were just as capable of killing others as male players were.

"You are under arrest for killing another player," I said, placing my hand on Ice-Stained Blade to show that I meant what I was saying. "You're going to have to come with me to the Black Iron Prison." From the very beginning, I had learned to speak in an authorities tone and not just rely on my reputation as a PKer hunter.

"Who are you?" the girl asked anxiously, her long white hair moving in the night time wind. I could see her body tense up and I got ready to throw my projectiles if I needed to. "And I didn't kill anyone!"

"I am Player's Bane and you _have_ killed someone; your cursor reveals everything," I retorted, still maintaining a stern tone. Although not very common, some PKers would try to lie to get away with their crimes; however, I haven't met a player killer until tonight that didn't know who I was. _I guess my reputation isn't that big after all,_ I thought to myself. _She must be from that new guild, Laughing Coffin._ "Now are you going to come quietly, murderer?"

"No!" She shouted back, her voice almost going shrill. I could see that she was starting to get really nervous and I felt a pang in my chest from an emotion that was foreign to me. "And I didn't kill someone!"

I sighed internally and thought, _Oh well_. Without giving her a warning, I threw the daggers that I had been holding so tightly. The killer swung her dagger and it extended, knocking my projectiles out of the air. It quickly reverted back to its original form and I realized why it had such an odd shape to it; it was a whip blade, a very rare weapon in Sword Art Online.

Whip blades were exactly what they sounded like: a hybrid of a normal blade and a whip. When used in a slash attack, the blade would separate into evenly segregated parts that were connected by a single wire. But for parrying and stabbing attacks, the blade would remain in its original form. In the real world, whip blades could not exist; the whole idea of having a blade turn into a whip-like contraption was dangerous and impractical. In games like MMORPGs, however, whip blades often made appearances and were often reserved for high level players, due to their extended range.

Rolling away from her next attack, I feigned a laugh that sounded faker than usual and said, "So that's how you got the jump on your victims huh, killer?" It was important to put on this sort of macho-ish persona to distract the PKers slightly. I threw a couple of throwing picks at her, hoping that the small size would prove to be harder to block. However, she managed to knock them away before they even got close to her.

"I'm not a killer!" she insisted, twisting her weapon in mid swing and bringing down at me. I did a quick flip backwards, hitting the ground with my hands to give myself stability before completing the rotation. Seeing the blade come around towards me again, I instinctively raised my sword before lowering it and rolling to the side.

_If it connects with my sword, it could activate the mechanism "Weapon Grab",_ I thought to myself as I threw some shurikens that I had in the sleeves of my armor. _I can't afford to lose Ice Stained Blade; I'll have to stick with my throwing weapons._

"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that lie," I remarked, charging towards her and throwing a hatchet that I pulled from my belt as hard as I could. Startled by my blunt and fierce offense, the PKer swing her blade in a horizontal slash.

The whip blade cut right through my projectile and I got ready to throw the daggers that I had grabbed right after I had distracted her with the hatchet. However, the extended blade came close to my face and I instinctively leaned back to avoid getting nipped by it. I lost my balance and fell on my back; seeing the opportunity, I kicked my opponent's feet out from underneath her.

As she fell forwards, I started to roll to the side but I was too slow and her body fell on top of mine. Opening my eyes to see her face blocking out my vision, I was startled for a second and froze up.

"You have really pretty blue eyes," she commented, resting her elbows on my upper chest and leaning closer to me. _And your eyes are an amazing shade of green,_ I started to think before I regained my common sense and shook my head.

"Don't compliment me, murderer," I said, pushing off of the ground before my arms were knocked out from under me by the player on top of me. I hit the ground from the short height that I had managed to achieve and looked back up at my captor.

"I am not a murderer!" she snapped and beat my chest with her hand, her face flushing up in anger. "I never killed anyone in this game."

"And how am I supposed to believe that?" I sighed, resigning myself to my vulnerable position for now. _Maybe if I can get her distracted, I can find a way to get out of this,_ I thought to myself. I briefly wondered if the white hair that was now touching my armor was dyed in real life or dyed in the game.

"Just your cursor is orange doesn't mean you killed someone," the girl replied, tossing her hair back and looking at me with such a serious expression that I stopped thinking of ways to escape. "It just means that you attacked someone."

"But… how am I going to be able to tell if you're telling the truth?" I retorted, understanding the point that she was trying to make. It was very possible for the player in front of me to have accidentally attacked a player and then ran because she was afraid of the village NPC guards and other players. However, it could also be a trick to get me off of her back and allow her to continue killing innocent people.

"Hmm..." the player mused and then snapped her fingers. She started to position herself better and I winced as her chest rubbed against mine. Swiping the air with her index finger, she started to tap different options on her player menu while I tried to see what she was doing. A party invite window popped up in front of my face and I looked at her questioningly.

"You can stick around with me and wait for the cursor to turn green," she explained, referencing how the time period for how long a player's cursor would remain orange depended on the severity of the player's crime. "Plus, because we're in a party, I wouldn't be able to run without you tracking me."

Processing her reasoning, I nodded without a sound and clicked on the accept option. With a smile, the player rolled off of me and stood up with a little hop. I dusted my pants with a few swipes of my hands and pushed myself off of the ground easily without the obstacle on top of me.

"My name is Seria," the player said with a happy expression that was so different from the one she had when we were fighting. She stuck her hand out towards me and I looked at, slightly startled at the movement. "What's yours?"

Remembering that I still was holding the daggers that I was going to throw at her, I put them back on my belt and grasped her hand. "I've already told you my name; I am Player's Bane," I said, quickly regaining the strict tone that I was suited with using towards player killers.

"Well, Mr. Bane, could you perhaps accompany me to the village?" Seria asked, gesturing with her head towards the same village that I had chased her from. The moonlight glinted off of her face, revealing faint, high cheekbones.

"Of course I am going to follow you into the town!" I exclaimed, surprised that the player in front of me would think that I would let her out of my sight for even a second. I immediately let go of her hand to grab Ice-Stained Blade's hilt. "Why would you need to go back there? Isn't that where you were running away from?"

"Perhaps," she replied coyly, starting to walk back towards the village without me. "But with what today is, they're having a huge festival and I can't miss that, can I?"

"Um… what is today?" I asked, confused and rushing after my target. _She seems to be so alive,_ I thought to myself. _And she's really calm, unlike when we were fighting._

"Wait, you don't know what Tanabata is, do you?" She asked, stopping and turning around to look at me with an amused expression. I stopped in my tracks and struggled to recall if I had heard the word before, but, try as I might, I couldn't seem to remember anything about it.

Taking my silence as an indication of my ignorance, she explained, "Tanabata is an annual festival in Japan. They're having a festival in town right now to celebrate. You haven't been in Japan very long have you?"

"No, I haven't," I replied briskly, not wanting to reveal too much of my real life. All that mattered now was what happened in SAO; as far as I was concerned, my real life might as well have just been a dream. "But if you want to go to this festival, I'll follow you."

"Great!" Seria exclaimed, clasping her hands together. I started to wonder what it was about this player that had me so confused and stuttering. "I'll just have to get ready."

* * *

I knocked on the door before saying "Remind me why exactly you rented this room?"

There was some shuffling and then the door swung open, almost hitting me. "Because," Seria stated, with an exaggerated wave of her hand and a smirk. She had changed from her form fitting armor into a black dress with a leather corset. Ebony velvet gloves covered her hands and forearm, stopping just before her elbows. "I had to change clothes for the festival. Are you not going to change clothes?"

I shook my head, not mentioning that her clothes seemed to be more suiting for a ball than a festival. _She looks really good, _I thought to myself, startling myself with the musing.

"At least take this off," She said, flicking the lid of my verdant hood and putting her other hand on her hip, where I noticed that her dagger was missing_. If she's going weaponless, I don't really see the danger in going without the cloak,_ I thought to myself. I opened my player menu and made sure to remove the daggers and throwing picks that were hidden by the piece of equipment before removing the cloak.

"That's better," Seria said with a quirky smile and I felt myself blush slightly before I regained my composure. She offered her arm to me and I awkwardly placed my hand on it, fully aware that I was probably doing it wrong.

"No, like this," She said, confirming my suspicions as she moved my arm around in a different position and easily sliding her arm into the shape that my arm was making. "You were doing it the way the girl is supposed to." She started to walk forward and, with a start, I started to move forward, trying to match her stride as closely as I could.

"I knew that," I retorted, realizing how ridiculous I sounded as we made our way towards the door out of the inn. _Why is my heart beating so fast? This isn't like me,_ I thought to myself. The spots where our skin touched was tingling and I realized that it had been years since the last time I had been touched for any extended length of time.

It wasn't because I hadn't allowed anyone to come near me or touch me; it just wasn't something that seemed to happen after the car accident. Before I distanced myself from my family, there would be times when my parents would hug me or tap me on the arm to tell me things. Without these interactions, I had been going without physical interaction for a long time; there was also the fact that obviously, in Sword Art Online, there were very few people that would come close to me now.

Glancing over at Seria, I could see that she had a rather strange expression on her face. "What's your favorite color?" I asked abruptly, startling myself with how loud my voice was.

Jumping a bit at the sudden break in the short silence that had developed between the two of us, the player gave me a quizzical glance. "…Purple? Why?" Looking at her face, I noticed that her raised eyebrow was a light blonde and came to the conclusion that her hair was dyed in real life. If you dyed your hair in the game, all of your hair would be changed to that one color; however, if you dyed your hair in real life, it would be nearly impossible to dye such a spot.

"For informational purposes; I figured I could speed this up if I could figure out if you're innocent by asking you some questions," I responded, randomly trying to come up with an excuse why I even wanted to know. The truth was, I didn't even know why I cared at all to begin with; it wasn't like me to be so enthralled by someone.

"And… you need to know what my favorite color is?" Seria replied, the corners of her mouth curling upwards slightly. Her bright green eyes sparkled in the street lights and I felt something in my chest stutter a bit. "Anyways, you'll have to postpone your questioning session."

We stopped and I tore my eyes away from her to notice the scene around us. Glittering lights covered every surface of the market place and there was a crowd of people dancing in the center of town. Seria started towards them, pulling me along with her before I started walking again.

Within a few moments, we had made our way into the center of shifting bodies and I felt the beat of the music in my feet. Pulling away to position herself opposite from me, Seria started to move her body with the rhythm of the instrumental song and gestured for me to as well.

Hesitating, I started to shift from one foot to the other, blushing fiercely. Seria started to giggle and I stopped, embarrassed and wishing to be anywhere else than where I was. _If her plan is to humiliate me until she escapes, it's definitely working,_ I thought to myself as the player continued to laugh, albeit quieter.

She moved closer to me, still smiling, and took my hand. Before I could ask what she was doing, she placed it on her hip and pushed me to the side so I spun around her like a horizontal pendulum. Almost forcefully, she pulled me closer, so that we were inches apart from each other and I felt my breath catch in my throat.

Instinctively, I started to pull away when I realized that my feet were now matching the beat of the song and we were spinning around as if we had been dancing for our entire lives. My hand on her hip and her arms around my neck almost surreal and I caught myself staring at her, dumbfounded.

"You know, bad habits don't suit you, Mr. Bane," Seria said, smiling at my apparently humorous antics. I felt my face flush up and opened my mouth to reply, but her expression told me not to ruin the moment with my mouth.

I lost track of time, paying attention only to the person in front of me and my placement of my feet. It wasn't until a peal of familiar laughter broke the silence that had somehow creeped onto the scene and saw a smile break out on Seria's face that I snapped back into reality.

"Just wanted to let you know, my cursor turned green a while," Seria offhandedly mentioned, gesturing to the spot above her head as we stopped moving. "Also… I'm pretty sure everyone left a while ago."

I felt my face heat up as I came to the same conclusion; it wasn't like me to become so unfocused and detached from the world around me. "Y-yeah it seems so."  
Seria gave me a faint smile and pulled away from me, apparently realizing that we were still close to each other. "It's rather late; you should probably get a room in a inn," she said, straightening the ruffles out of her dress. "I mean, that's what I'm going to do."

I nodded and scratched the back of my head. "Yeah… the only problem with that is that I don't have any col on me." Cursing Mattias for restricting the amount of money that I was allowed to carry, I pulled up my player menu to start getting suited up for the travel back to the guild house.

"Well, you can share a room with me," Seria said, flicking the front of my armor and giving me a grin. "Come on; you know I'm not a killer now, so there's no danger."

About an hour later, I was lying awake in bed with a girl next to me. The room only had one bed and we had gotten changed to sleeping clothes in the dark. I was trying my hardest to keep my breathing steady and not disruptive at all. I didn't want to ruin the moment that I was in at all and I turned on my side to look at Seria.

"What's up?" she whispered, almost sleepily and smirking coyly. She had been adamant that there was no need to spend money on an extra room and that sleeping in the same bed would be fine. I was beginning to fall in love with her quirky, reckless personality and I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about that.

I opened my mouth, hesitating with what I was about to say, and said, "Do you mind if I try something kinda weird?" I winced a little bit at how the wording came out but I didn't try to remedy it, afraid that I would only botch it up more.

Seria shrugged lightheartedly despite the awkward question and replied, "Sure, weird is cool."

Leaning forward carefully, I lightly kissed the tip of her nose and pulled back. Almost terrified to think of what I might find there, I anxiously searched her face in the darkness for some sign as to how she felt.

"You can be really cute sometimes, you know," she stated with an adorable grin and closed her eyes. I waited for her to say something else, but her relaxed breathing told me that she had fallen asleep. Closing my eyes with a light feeling in my heart, I soon drifted off as well.

When I woke up that morning, Seria was gone and there was no note as to where she went; in addition, according to the system, she had left the party a few hours before I had woken up. I search all over town but I couldn't find any indication as to where she went; no one had seen her and, moreover, didn't want anything to do with a PKer hunter. My search was cut short when I got sent an invitation to a meeting about a raid on Laughing Coffin's headquarters, but I never truly stopped looking for her. Even when I got back to the real world, I tried to gather as much information as I could but I wasn't able to find out if she was even alive.

After time, and with everything else that was going on around me, the thought of her was pushed towards the back of my mind. I never did forget about her, though, and there would be times when I'd go on random searches through the internet in hopes of finding her. Try as I might, I never was able to get any information about her.


End file.
